Shivon Zilis Testifies She Prioritized 'AI for Humanity' in Musk vs. OpenAI Trial

Shivon Zilis took the witness stand Wednesday in federal court in Oakland, California, on the sixth day of a trial pitting Elon Musk against two of his OpenAI co-founders. Zilis, who worked at OpenAI beginning in 2016 and served on its board of directors for several years, left the board in 2023. She has also worked at Neuralink and at Tesla, where Musk is CEO.

Musk is suing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman. He alleges that they are enriching themselves from what he says was supposed to remain a charitable endeavor. Zilis operated as a kind of bridge between Musk and OpenAI’s other co-founders even after they had fallen out.

Zilis testified that her relationship with Musk began with a one-off at a corporate off-site event. After she decided to have children as a single mother, Musk offered to make a donation as a platonic sperm donor. She testified that she and Musk now have a romantic partnership.

She said their relationship did not affect her decisions as an OpenAI board member. “I had an allegiance to the best outcome, AI for humanity,” Zilis testified. Asked by a Musk lawyer whether it was her job to funnel information to Elon, she responded, “Funnel?

Zilis sent a message to Musk saying the “trust game is about to get tricky” regarding her interactions with other OpenAI board members. Zilis testified that back in 2017 the OpenAI co-founders were going through a weird half-breakup. At an earlier stage in the lawsuit in 2024, Zilis was a plaintiff alongside Musk.

She dropped out of the case as a plaintiff last year. Brockman testified Tuesday that he and Zilis had been friends at least since 2013. Brockman testified that Zilis told him in 2021 about being pregnant with twins but did not tell him who the father was.

Brockman said he learned the identity of the father only through media reports. Brockman testified that Zilis said it was via IVF and that it was entirely platonic with Elon. Brockman testified that many board members wanted to remove Zilis from the board because of her relationship with Musk.

Brockman testified that the board had a vote and decided to let her stay because they trusted her to keep the Elon conflict under control. Zilis testified she informed the OpenAI board about her relationship with Musk only after Business Insider told her it planned to publish a story. Zilis and Musk had agreed on complete confidentiality about his donation of sperm because of security concerns.

Zilis testified that the security around Musk is a burden. “If he was indeed just a donor, it didn’t seem fair to put that burden on them,” she testified. Shivon Zilis is the mother of four of Elon Musk's children.

Last year, Zilis announced that she and Musk had welcomed a fourth child. Musk has fathered 14 known children. Zilis has 276,000 followers on X. In February, Zilis was photographed holding Musk’s hand as they arrived at Mar-a-Lago.

Last year, when Musk was serving in the Trump administration, Zilis joined Musk for a meeting with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On the stand, Zilis peppered her speech with unusual phrases.