**Musk Criticizes OpenAI Leadership Amid Dispute Over AI Models**
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has publicly criticized the leadership of OpenAI, labeling them as “utterly untrustworthy assholes.” This remark follows OpenAI's recent announcement that it plans to withdraw its artificial intelligence models from Cursor, a coding platform recently acquired by Musk's own company, SpaceX.
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, and other developers and researchers. However, he departed from the organization three years later due to disagreements over its direction. Since then, Musk has been embroiled in a contentious public and legal dispute with OpenAI's leadership.
The conflict intensified earlier this month when SpaceX finalized its acquisition of Anysphere, the developer behind Cursor, for approximately $60 billion. Following this acquisition, OpenAI announced on Friday that it would terminate access to its AI models for Cursor users, with a proposed cutoff date of November 12. The company cited concerns regarding SpaceX's adherence to its terms of service, noting past experiences where Musk's companies allegedly violated contracts.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk expressed his disdain for OpenAI's leadership, stating, “I couldn’t care less. Scam Altman and Greg Stockman are utterly untrustworthy assholes who stole an open source nonprofit.” This comment underscores Musk's longstanding grievances regarding OpenAI's transition from a nonprofit to a profit-driven model.
According to Michael Truell, co-founder of Cursor, OpenAI's models represent about 5% of the platform's user traffic. Truell mentioned that Cursor had been one of OpenAI's earliest customers and had relied on the company's platform as a neutral infrastructure for its operations. He also indicated that discussions were ongoing with OpenAI to address the current dispute.
OpenAI's decision to withdraw its models is based on a contractual agreement that allows the company to terminate its contract with Cursor following a change in control. However, OpenAI has not accused Cursor of any violations of their terms.
In light of the situation, Anthropic, a competitor of OpenAI, has moved to take advantage of the dispute. The company announced plans to increase its computing capacity to support its Claude models on Cursor following the anticipated cutoff.
Musk's involvement with OpenAI has been tumultuous. He initially invested an estimated $38 million in the organization, believing it would remain a nonprofit entity dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. However, Musk later filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in 2024, claiming he was misled about the organization's direction and funding. He argued that he had been led to believe that OpenAI would maintain its nonprofit status, only to find that it had accepted a $13 billion investment from Microsoft and adopted a profit-driven model.
During the legal proceedings, Musk accused OpenAI of violating its foundational commitment and referred to himself as a “fool” for supporting the company financially in its early days. In May, a U.S. federal jury dismissed Musk's claims, ruling that he had delayed too long in bringing the case forward and had missed the statutory deadline. Musk has since indicated his intention to appeal the verdict.
The ongoing tensions between Musk and OpenAI highlight the complexities and challenges within the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence, as well as the differing visions for its future. As the situation develops, the implications for both companies and the broader tech landscape remain to be seen.