Shivon Zilis, Elon Musk’s romantic partner and the mother of four of his children, testified Wednesday in his explosive lawsuit against OpenAI – fielding questions about whether she “funneled” information to Musk while she was sitting on the artificial intelligence giant’s board.
“I had an allegiance to the best outcome of AI for humanity,” said Zilis, who is currently an executive at Musk’s brain implant firm Neuralink and previously worked for Tesla.
Zilis met Musk in 2016 while she was volunteering at OpenAI as an advisor. She joined its board in 2020, about two years after Musk cut ties with the firm.
The 40-year-old Canadian venture capitalist insisted that she acted independently while she sat on OpenAI’s board from 2020 to 2023 – despite sharing three children with the entrepreneur during that time. Musk and Zilis went on to have a fourth child together.
But Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, testified Tuesday that Zilis initially hid that Musk was the father of her twins born in November 2021 – claiming he only found out it was Musk through news reports.
Brockman said when he asked Zilis about it, she said the twins were born through IVF and that her relationship with Musk was platonic.
OpenAI and its legal team have argued Zilis acted as a close adviser to Musk, and was often consulted when the billionaire couldn’t be reached.
Wednesday’s testimony marked the most intimate facts about Musk to surface since the trial began last week, captivating Silicon Valley and beyond.
The world’s richest man is squaring off against rivals Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, and Brockman, accusing them of ripping him off by accepting $38 million in funding to build up the firm as a nonprofit – only to later turn the company into a for-profit venture.
Musk is asking federal court in Oakland, Calif., to remove Altman and Brockman from the company, award up to $180 billion in damages and reverse OpenAI’s recent restructuring – even one of which steps could upend one of the largest and most influential AI startups in the world.
OpenAI has argued that Musk knew about the plan to transform into a for-profit vehicle, and even supported the idea before his departure from the company.
On Wednesday, OpenAI’s lawyer Sarah Eddy displayed notes that Zilis had taken at a party Musk hosted in 2017 that the attorney said showed Musk was part of discussions to make OpenAI a for-profit entity.
“Switch to for profit in next couple of weeks (woah, fast!). Keep subset of people at openai nonprofit, likely safety and regulation oriented, but [Elon] wanted some coders there too Elon and sam a to lock down server agreement with satya,” the noted read, referring to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Zilis testified that she and Musk briefly started a romantic relationship after meeting in 2016, and that she went on to work for several of his ventures.
Around 2020, Musk offered to donate sperm to Zilis because he wanted everyone around him to have more children, according to her testimony. At one point, she grew emotional discussing autoimmune issues that made it difficult for her to have long-term relationships.
Eddy questioned Zilis on what she meant in a text exchange in which she asked Musk whether she should stay “close and friendly” with OpenAI in order to “keep info flowing.” Musk replied at the time, “Close and friendly,” according to court documents.
After claiming in earlier deposition statements that she didn’t recall the exchange, Zilis said Wednesday that Musk and OpenAI were “going through a weird half-breakup” and she wanted to help both parties “maintain max alignment,” a role she had historically played.
Zilis explained the text exchange as “just trying to get a read on where his head was at.”
Musk – who has had at least 14 children with four different mothers – has frequently said that “population collapse” is one of the top issues facing the world today.
Zilis said she initially kept the fact that Musk was the father a secret to protect the children from security threats, but told OpenAI’s board about his paternity after a news story broke in 2022.
Musk testified last week that he lives with Zilis, and he has publicly referred to her as his “partner.”
When Musk set up shop at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Fla., residence soon after the 2024 election, Zilis was also a mainstay at the property. She also appeared by Musk’s side during Trump’s January 2025 inauguration.
Zilis also joined Musk during a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, DC, in February of that year. The pair brought along two of their children and Musk’s son X from his previous relationship with pop star Grimes.
Also in February 2025, Zilis posted a photo on social media of her with their twins, and Musk posted a heart emoji in the comments.
The Post’s owner, News Corp, has a content-licensing deal with OpenAI.
Additional reporting by Marc Vartabedian.
