OpenAI has announced it will pull its models from Cursor as it winds down its contract with the AI coding platform, citing concerns that the agreement will not be honoured after Cursor's acquisition by SpaceX.
On August 28, OpenAI said it had decided to terminate its agreement with Cursor because it could not be certain that SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, would comply with the contract's terms.
The company said it chose November 12 as the cutoff date to give developers the maximum notice permitted under the agreement.
The decision adds another escalation to the long-running dispute between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk. The two have been involved in an increasingly bitter public and legal conflict over OpenAI and its direction.
Earlier this year, Musk sued OpenAI for $150 billion, accusing the company and Altman of betraying its original nonprofit mission and "stealing a charity" for their own financial interests. OpenAI has rejected Musk's claims.
Contract Clause Behind OpenAI's Decision
OpenAI said its custom agreement with Cursor includes a provision that gives the company a limited period to cancel the contract following a change of control.
SpaceX completed its $60 billion acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, on August 14. The deal had been announced in June, shortly after SpaceX's IPO, and was described as one of the largest venture-backed startup acquisitions in history.
Following the change in ownership, OpenAI said it was concerned about whether SpaceX would honour the existing service agreement. The company also pointed to its previous experiences with Musk's companies, including X and xAI, as contributing to its lack of confidence.
"As AI capabilities advance, we also have a new level of accountability to ensure our upcoming model, Astra, is being used in accordance with our terms," OpenAI said.
The company added that it had decided to delay the cancellation until the latest date allowed under the agreement. While OpenAI will not provide future models to Cursor, the company said the decision was intended to give developers as much notice as possible.
OpenAI Says Developers Will Be Most Affected
OpenAI said it had worked with Cursor for nearly four years and expressed respect for its team, product and contribution to the developer community.
The company also acknowledged that developers who depend on OpenAI models through Cursor would be the people most directly affected by the decision.
OpenAI's statement was notably direct for a corporate announcement. Rather than framing the move around a broader business disagreement, the company focused on contract compliance, specifically the clause allowing termination after a change in corporate control.
Cursor's Rapid Growth
The dispute comes as Cursor has grown significantly. Anysphere, the company behind the AI coding platform, had reached approximately $4 billion in annualised revenue by the time of the acquisition, up from around $1 billion in late 2025.
SpaceX's acquisition of Anysphere for $60 billion therefore represents a major shift in Cursor's ownership and has now triggered a significant change in its relationship with OpenAI.
Although OpenAI will stop providing future models to Cursor, the company said it continues to have "enormous respect" for Cursor's team, its product and what it has built for developers.
The move nevertheless marks a new chapter in the broader conflict between OpenAI and Musk, while putting developers who rely on OpenAI models through Cursor at the centre of the dispute.
