OpenAI cuts Cursor off from its models: access ends 12 November after the SpaceX acquisition
OpenAI cites its experience with Musk companies as it winds down the contract. Truell's reply is measured but pointed: OpenAI models are 5 percent of our traffic - and it was OpenAI that seeded us in 2023.
OpenAI is ending its partnership with Cursor. Following SpaceX's acquisition of Anysphere, Cursor's developer, the company announced it will wind down its model-supply contract; under the proposal, Cursor's direct access to OpenAI models ends on 12 November.
As justification, OpenAI says that based on its experience with Elon Musk's companies it cannot be confident SpaceX will use the technology within its terms of service. The note also acknowledges that the people most affected are developers who rely on OpenAI models inside Cursor. The acquisition in the background closed on 14 August: SpaceX took over Anysphere in an all-stock deal of roughly 60 billion dollars.
Cursor founder Michael Truell's response is measured but pointed: he says they were disappointed to see the notice, that they are in talks with OpenAI to resolve it, and he shares a number - OpenAI models account for roughly 5 percent of Cursor's user traffic. Truell also notes Cursor was one of OpenAI's earliest users, taking seed backing from the OpenAI Startup Fund in 2023. Commentary circulating on X reads the same reply with the emphasis "we trusted the platform to be neutral infrastructure".
The split is the most concrete case yet of the tension between model providers and the application layer: yesterday's infrastructure partner can become a commercial counterparty the moment it changes hands.
Source: OpenAI announcement · Truell's response
