OpenAI’s Strategic Moves: From Cursor to Windsurf in the AI Coding Assistant Race

OpenAI initially approached Anysphere, the maker of Cursor, for acquisition before shifting focus to Windsurf, highlighting the competitive landscape of AI coding assistants.

Well, well, well—OpenAI’s quest to rule the AI coding assistant world just got a juicy plot twist. Before they even thought about shelling out a cool $3 billion for Windsurf, they were all in on Anysphere, the brains behind the skyrocketing Cursor. Even though OpenAI had been backing Anysphere since the seed round in late 2023, their 2024 (and this year’s) attempts to buy them out? Total flop. Now, Anysphere’s looking to raise capital at a eye-watering $10 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg.

So, why the sudden swerve to Windsurf, with its $40 million in ARR? It’s simple: OpenAI’s in a hurry to lock down its spot in the code generation game. And let’s not forget, Cursor’s ARR is sitting pretty at $200 million—talk about a heavyweight. Sure, OpenAI just dropped their Codex CLI ‘agent,’ but chasing Windsurf? That’s them saying loud and clear they’d rather snap up the big players than grow from scratch. The AI coding assistant scene is getting wild, and OpenAI’s playing for keeps.