OpenAI Cancels Cursor Partnership Citing Distrust of Elon Musk

The artificial intelligence startup announced the change Friday (Aug. 28), saying it was driven by OpenAI’s contentious relationship with SpaceX head Elon Musk.

“This decision was incredibly tough, as we care deeply about our models being broadly available for developers,” OpenAI wrote on its website. “We are making this choice because we cannot be confident that SpaceX will use our technology within our terms of service, based on our experience with Elon Musk’s companies violating contracts.”

Open plans to wind down its contract with Cursor to provide the company AI models, with a proposed shutdown date of Nov. 12, the announcement said.

OpenAI added that, when working with a larger partner like SpaceX, it typically uses custom contracts to “ensure compliance with our terms of service and that the integration provides for safety at scale.”

When Musk acquired Twitter, now X, in 2022, the company broke the terms of its contract with the ChatGPT maker, OpenAI argued.

“Under oath earlier this year, Musk admitted⁠ that xAI, now also part of SpaceX, had violated OpenAI’s terms of service (terms which are similar to xAI’s own),” the company added.