Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink executive and mother of four of Elon Musk’s children, testified in court that her decision to have children with Musk was based on a platonic arrangement, not a romantic relationship. During the ongoing OpenAI trial, Zilis said Musk offered to be a sperm donor around the end of 2020, telling her he would “be happy to make a donation.”
Zilis, who served on OpenAI’s board from 2020 to 2023, is a key witness in Musk’s lawsuit against the ChatGPT maker. Musk alleges that OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman breached a founding agreement by restructuring the company from a non-profit to a for-profit entity, unjustly enriching themselves. He seeks $134bn in damages and the reversal of the for-profit structure.
OpenAI’s lawyers have portrayed Zilis as an informant for Musk, citing a 2018 text in which she asked Musk: “Do you prefer I stay close and friendly to OpenAI to keep info flowing or begin to disassociate?” Musk replied: “Close and friendly, but we are going to actively try to move three or four people from OpenAI to Tesla.”
During her testimony, Zilis denied funneling information to Musk while on the board, stating: “Funnel? Certainly not.” She described her role as a facilitator between Musk and OpenAI’s leadership, saying: “They were kind of bad at speaking to each other.”
Zilis revealed that she and Musk became romantically involved around 2016, but the relationship was not publicly known until 2022. She now lives with their four children in Austin, Texas, where Musk sometimes stays when visiting. Musk, who testified last week, referred to Zilis as the mother of his children and confirmed they live together.
