AI Rift: OpenAI Slashes Ties with Musk's New Company.
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has cut off access to its models for the popular coding tool Cursor, following SpaceX's acquisition of Cursor's parent company, Anysphere. This significant move, effective November 12, stems from what OpenAI describes as a breach of trust with Elon Musk's companies. The decision highlights ongoing tensions between Musk and OpenAI, especially after a recent lawsuit where Musk challenged the company's direction. SpaceX had acquired Cursor to leverage its own supercomputing power, aiming to boost its Grok AI and compete with rivals like Anthropic. This development now forces Cursor to rely more heavily on other partners and its in-house technology.
OpenAI announced its decision to end the partnership with Cursor on its website, citing concerns about SpaceX using its technology within their terms of service. This comes after past experiences where OpenAI claims Elon Musk’s companies violated contracts. The ongoing legal battle between Musk and OpenAI, which began when Musk sued the company in 2024 over its mission, forms the backdrop for this latest development. While a jury sided with OpenAI earlier this year, Musk plans to appeal to a higher court, calling the outcome a “calendar technicality” rather than a real judgment.
SpaceX's interest in Cursor goes back months. They saw an opportunity to integrate Cursor into their growing SpaceXAI division, allowing Cursor to train its own AI models using SpaceX's powerful Colossus supercomputer instead of paying rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI. The $60 billion acquisition deal was finalized in mid-August, shortly after SpaceX's own IPO.
Following the acquisition, Elon Musk reportedly told Cursor employees that his Grok AI was playing catch-up in the AI race. Now, with OpenAI's models no longer available, Cursor will rely more on Anthropic's Claude and its own Composer model, which SpaceX's computing power was meant to accelerate. The tech world is watching to see how this separation impacts the competitive landscape of AI coding tools and the race for artificial intelligence dominance.