Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have been embroiled in a long-running dispute, which intensified earlier this year during a trial over Musk’s $150 billion lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company. During the proceedings, Musk’s lawyer said he and other witnesses had described Altman as dishonest, while OpenAI maintained that Musk had sought to gain control of the company.
OpenAI said it had decided to end SpaceX-owned Cursor’s access to its AI models because it could not be certain that SpaceX would use the technology in accordance with its terms of service.
The company cited its previous experience with Musk-owned businesses, alleging that they had breached contractual obligations.
Musk dismissed the decision in a post on X early Saturday, saying he was unconcerned. He also accused Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman of being “untrustworthy” and repeated his claim that the pair had taken over an organisation that was originally established as an open-source nonprofit.
Musk, who is among the world’s wealthiest individuals, had filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, accusing them of abandoning the company’s original nonprofit mission for financial gain. A federal jury ruled against Musk earlier this year, determining that his lawsuit had been filed after the applicable deadline.
Meanwhile, Michael Truell, a co-founder of Cursor who now serves as a SpaceX executive, said on X that the company was in discussions with OpenAI in an effort to resolve the dispute.
Anthropic, which competes with both OpenAI and SpaceX but maintains a partnership with SpaceX, also responded to the development. Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown said the company planned to expand computing capacity to support its Claude AI models on Cursor.
OpenAI said X, formerly known as Twitter and now owned by SpaceX, had violated the terms of its agreement with the company after Musk acquired the social media platform.
The AI firm said its partnerships with major companies such as SpaceX generally involve customised contracts designed to ensure compliance with its policies and maintain safety standards at scale.
OpenAI said it had proposed November 12, 2026, as the date to terminate access, noting that its agreement with Cursor allowed only a limited period to end the contract following a “change of control”.
SpaceX agreed in June to acquire Anysphere, the startup behind Cursor, in an all-stock transaction valued at $60 billion. The acquisition was completed earlier this month.
