OpenAI announced on 28 August 2026 that it would gradually end its licensing partnership with Cursor, the popular AI coding tool that joined SpaceX. With the longest notice period applicable under the terms of the agreement being invoked, direct integrated access to OpenAI models through Cursor will end as of 12 November 2026. In the company’s official statement, the decision was said to stem from a lack of trust, while pointing to previous breaches of contract by companies led by Elon Musk.
Trust Issues and Previous Breaches of Contract
OpenAI cited the past business practices of companies owned by Elon Musk as the main reason for its decision to terminate access. The statement said that, following the acquisition of the X platform, it had acted in violation of the data agreement signed with OpenAI, and that xAI had acknowledged in legal proceedings that it used OpenAI output to train its models. OpenAI also said it had demanded assurances that the terms of service would be followed in order to ensure the security of advanced models such as Astra, which will be made available in the future.
During a period when Sam Altman had previously drawn attention to the danger of monopolization in the field of AI, a $150 billion lawsuit for damages filed by Musk against OpenAI and Sam Altman had also been dismissed by the court on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired.
Reaction from SpaceX and Traffic Shares
SpaceX had completed its acquisition of Anysphere, the developer of Cursor, under a $60 billion stock-swap deal. In a post on X about the decision, Elon Musk said he did not consider the matter important while accusing OpenAI’s management of being untrustworthy. Michael Truell, co-founder of Cursor and an executive at SpaceX, said OpenAI models accounted for only 5% of Cursor user traffic. Truell also said talks with the OpenAI team were continuing to resolve the issue.
Anthropic’s Computing Power Support
Immediately after OpenAI’s cancellation decision, rival company Anthropic, which collaborates with SpaceX, also joined the process. Anthropic executives announced that computing support for the Claude models used on the Cursor platform would be increased.
Cursor, whose annual recurring revenue exceeds $3 billion and which is used by more than half of Fortune 500 companies, may continue providing developers with services through individual API keys rather than direct access to an in-house model provider. However, the decision shows that competition in the artificial intelligence industry is directly affecting model supply lines.