AI: The $60 Billion Deal Pushing OpenAI Out of Cursor

The acquisition of Cursor by SpaceX is already starting to change the AI market. OpenAI wants to withdraw its models from the code editor starting November 12. Anthropic takes the opposite direction: Claude will remain available and will even benefit from more computing capacity. Cursor thus finds itself in the middle of the old battle between Elon Musk and Sam Altman.

AI Cursor loses OpenAI after SpaceX acquisition

SpaceX had announced in June the acquisition of Cursor for 60 billion dollars. The all-stock deal was finalized on August 14. Two weeks later, OpenAI reacted. Sam Altman’s company informed SpaceX of its intention to terminate the contract allowing Cursor to offer its models. The proposed date is November 12, 2026.

Cursor is not accused of violating the agreement. OpenAI is instead looking at its new owner. The company explains it does not have enough confidence in SpaceX’s ability to meet its terms of use. It cites several past disputes with Elon Musk’s companies, including Twitter and xAI.

The contract with Cursor also contained a clause allowing an exit after a change of control. The acquisition by SpaceX opened this door. Michael Truell, Cursor’s co-founder, is still in discussions with OpenAI. Thus, the breakup is not completely finalized. The timeline, however, is already running.

Anthropic keeps Claude in Cursor

Anthropic did not wait long to take a position. Tom Brown, co-founder and head of compute at Anthropic, confirmed that the AI Claude would continue to operate in Cursor. He also promised more computing power to support the company’s models.

The two companies have been working together since AI Claude 3.5 Sonnet. Brown presents Cursor as a trusted partner. So no break.

Anthropic already has other ties with Musk’s ecosystem. SpaceX notably provides computing capacity to the group, despite the many tensions between Elon Musk and Anthropic in recent years.

Cursor thus becomes a new ground for their competition with OpenAI. The two AI labs are already competing on scientific research and several professional AI uses. For developers, the change remains limited for now.

Cursor integrates several model providers and does not depend solely on OpenAI. The company states that OpenAI’s models represent about 5% of its current traffic.

Claude will remain available. SpaceXAI’s models too. The editor had already started working with SpaceXAI on a model specially designed for software development. Cursor therefore has alternative solutions.