Anthropic Cuts Off Claude Access to Windsurf Amid Rumored OpenAI Acquisition and Sparks Industry Drama

Anthropic has officially cut off Windsurf’s direct access to its Claude AI models—and now we know why. Speaking at TC Sessions: AI 2025, Anthropic co-founder and Chief Science Officer Jared Kaplan broke the silence and confirmed what many had suspected: the decision was heavily influenced by rumors that OpenAI is acquiring Windsurf.

“We really are just trying to enable our customers who are going to sustainably be working with us in the future,” Kaplan said in a live interview, adding, “It would be odd for us to be selling Claude to OpenAI.”

The comment underscores the deep competitive tension between Anthropic and OpenAI, two of the leading players in generative AI. Bloomberg previously reported that OpenAI is in talks to buy Windsurf for $3 billion, though the companies have not confirmed the acquisition. Windsurf, a coding-focused AI IDE with over a million users, had relied heavily on Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Claude 3.7 Sonnet models until access was abruptly revoked.

Windsurf said it was “disappointed” with Anthropic’s decision and warned of short-term instability for its users. The company has since rolled out workarounds, including a bring-your-own-key (BYOK) option and promotions for Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, in an attempt to retain developers affected by the loss of Claude.

Kaplan, meanwhile, hinted at deeper strategic reasons beyond competitive tension. Anthropic is currently computing-constrained, and Kaplan stressed the company must prioritize “lasting partnerships” over potentially short-lived arrangements. With computing resources already stretched, continuing to serve a soon-to-be-acquired entity—especially by a rival—was seen as a misallocation.

Behind the scenes, Anthropic is expanding its capabilities with the help of Amazon, a key investor and infrastructure partner. Kaplan confirmed that new compute clusters from Amazon are being unlocked, which could allow more access to Claude models in the coming months.

Rather than chase the AI chatbot crown, Kaplan revealed that Anthropic is doubling down on agentic tools like Claude Code, positioning the company away from static interfaces toward dynamic AI assistants tailored for developers. He also confirmed collaboration with other coding startups like Cursor, a company Anthropic sees as a long-term ally—not a competitor.

As for Windsurf, CEO Varun Mohan has called this a “short-term issue” and maintained that the company made it clear to Anthropic that it was willing to pay for capacity and prioritize Claude models for its users. In a recent blog post, he expressed concern that Anthropic’s decision could hurt “many in the industry, not just Windsurf.”

Still, with the cloud of an OpenAI acquisition hanging overhead, Anthropic isn’t budging. And as AI companies increasingly play defense around data, access, and control, this high-profile cut-off may just be the beginning of a broader trend.