This one is not about a new model. It is about who gets to keep calling the old ones.
On August 28, OpenAI posted that it notified SpaceX it intends to wind down the contract that supplies OpenAI models to Cursor. The proposed shutoff date on that post is November 12, 2026. OpenAI says that date is the maximum notice its Cursor agreement allows after a change of control.
What OpenAI wrote
I am staying with the company’s language. OpenAI says the choice was tough because it wants models broadly available to developers. The stated reason: “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.”
The same post says X, now part of SpaceX, breached OpenAI contract terms after Musk acquired the platform. OpenAI also says large partners like SpaceX usually need custom contracts for terms-of-service compliance and “safety at scale,” and that upcoming model Astra will not go to Cursor under this wind-down.
How we got here
The Business Times (Reuters spine, dated August 29) puts the corporate facts next to the post: SpaceX announced a deal to buy Anysphere, Cursor’s parent, for US$60 billion in an all-stock deal in June, and completed the acquisition earlier this month. Cursor still offers other model routes, including Grok models tied to SpaceXAI, plus Anthropic and Google options on its site, per that writeup.
What Cursor said back
Cursor co-founder Michael Truell, now an executive at SpaceX, said in an X post reported by desks that the team was speaking with OpenAI to resolve the issue, that Cursor was an early OpenAI user, and that they had trusted OpenAI’s platform as “neutral infrastructure.” Separate coverage on August 29 reported Truell saying OpenAI models are about 5% of Cursor user traffic. That is his claim to press/social, not an audited metric I verified.
I am not re-litigating the Altman–Musk trial in this post. Business Times notes the long feud and that a federal jury earlier ruled against Musk’s suit on timing. Context, not the holding of this contract notice.
If you write code inside Cursor on OpenAI models, the practical line is November 12 under OpenAI’s proposal — unless the companies rewrite it. OpenAI says it wants to support developers through the transition. Whether Anthropic or Google change their own Cursor posture is a different story. This one is OpenAI drawing a change-of-control line.
