Shivon Zilis, Mother of Musk Children, Testifies in OpenAI Trial Shivon Zilis, a former board member of OpenAI Inc. and the mother of four of Elon Musk’s children, took the stand on the sixth day of a high-profile trial in Oakland, California. The case centers on Musk’s lawsuit against two of his co-founders, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman, whom he alleges have prioritized personal gain over the nonprofit mission of the artificial intelligence startup. Zilis, who has a complex relationship with Musk, provided insights into the inner workings of OpenAI and the dynamics between its co-founders. Zilis joined OpenAI in 2016 and served on its board of directors for several years, acting as a liaison between Musk and the firm’s other co-founders after their relationship soured. She left the board in 2023 following Musk’s launch of a competing AI company, xAI, and has since worked at Musk’s brain science startup, Neuralink, and Tesla, where Musk is CEO. During her testimony, Zilis described her evolving relationship with Musk, which began with a “one-off” encounter at a corporate event and later developed into a romantic partnership. She emphasized that her role as a board member was guided by her commitment to “AI for humanity,” not personal ties to Musk. Musk’s legal team, led by Jennifer Schubert, questioned Zilis about her loyalties, particularly regarding her interactions with Altman and Brockman. Schubert asked if Zilis’s role was to “funnel information to Elon,” to which she replied, “Funnel? Absolutely not.” Zilis also addressed a message she sent to Musk in 2017, in which she referred to the “trust game” as a metaphor for her interactions with other board members.#elon_musk #sam_altman #shivon_zilis #greg_brockman #openai_inc
Former OpenAI board member says Elon Musk offered her sperm donations Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member, testified in a federal courtroom in Oakland, California, as part of Elon Musk's lawsuit seeking to reverse OpenAI's transition to a for-profit entity. Her testimony centered on her personal relationship with Musk, including claims that he offered to donate sperm around late 2020. Zilis described how Musk, who had previously encouraged his associates to have children, noticed she had not and made the offer. She stated, "I still really wanted to be a mum and Elon made the offer around that time and I accepted," explaining that Musk had proposed to father her children. Zilis, a venture capitalist with over 15 years of experience in Silicon Valley, held executive roles at Tesla and Neuralink before joining OpenAI as an advisor in 2016. She served on OpenAI's board from 2020 to 2023, a position she claimed was how she first met Musk. During the trial, Zilis detailed her evolving relationship with Musk, including a "one-off" romance a decade earlier. She clarified that she was not romantically involved with Musk in 2020 when he made the sperm donation offer. Zilis explained that health issues had altered her plans for marriage and parenthood, leading her to accept Musk's offer. She initially envisioned Musk as a passive figure in the lives of her first two children, with their paternity kept strictly confidential. However, Musk has since become an active participant in the lives of his four children with Zilis, spending a few hours weekly with the family. She revealed that the confidentiality agreement with Musk prevented her from disclosing the twins' paternity to OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, until a Business Insider report threatened to expose the information.#elon_musk #openai #sam_altman #shivon_zilis #greg_brockman
