Shivon Zilis, mother of four of Elon Musk’s children, testifies in OpenAI trial
The Guardian • • general
Key Points:
- Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink executive and mother of four of Elon Musk’s children, testified in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, where Musk alleges the company’s leaders breached a founding agreement by shifting from non-profit to for-profit status.
- Musk accuses OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman of unjust enrichment and seeks their removal, undoing the restructuring, and $134 billion in damages to be redirected to OpenAI’s non-profit arm; OpenAI denies these claims, portraying Musk as a disgruntled former insider.
- Zilis, who served on OpenAI’s board from 2020 to 2023 and worked closely with Musk at Tesla and Neuralink, was alleged to have acted as an informant for Musk within OpenAI after he left the company in 2018.
- Testimony revealed that Zilis and Musk began a romantic relationship around 2016, have four children together, and maintain a close personal and professional connection, with Zilis signing confidentiality agreements about their family.
- OpenAI leadership, including Altman and Brockman, maintained friendly relations with Zilis despite her ties to Musk, and she left OpenAI after Musk launched his AI startup xAI in 2023; since then, she and Musk have been publicly seen together at high-profile events.
