Thekabarnews.com—Former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis was one of the most closely watched witnesses to take the stand in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI. She gave intimate details about her relationship with the billionaire entrepreneur and her position in the company.

At the heart of the case is Musk’s contention that the company has moved away from its original mission as a non-profit by becoming a for-profit entity. He says the move violates the founding agreement with co-founders like Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. However, OpenAI rejects the claims, stating that Musk had previously supported discussions about restructuring.

Zilis said Musk offered in 2020 to donate his sperm after learning she wanted children during her testimony. She said Musk encouraged people around him to have children and that he would be “happy to make a donation.”

Zilis later accepted the offer as part of what she described at the time as a platonic arrangement. She emphasized it was not a romantic relationship.

“There was a one-off romance years ago after I joined OpenAI in 2016,” Zilis said.

Zilis added that she and Musk did not have a romantic relationship in 2020 when they made the decision to have children. She said the arrangement was more about her personal desire to become a mother than a continuing romantic partnership.

Zilis worked at several of Musk’s companies, including Tesla. She also worked at OpenAI, where she was a board member from 2020 to 2023, and at Neuralink.

Lawyers for OpenAI questioned Zilis during the trial about whether she had acted as an inside source for Musk after he left the company in 2018. However, she denied “funneling” information to him.

“Funnel? No, no, no,” she told the court, as quoted in The Guardian.

Another big issue was the secret behind the birth of their twins in 2021. She said she and Musk initially kept his paternity “strictly confidential.” Moreover, they only told Altman “literally moments before Business Insider was about to release a story on the twins.” She said the secrecy was to protect the family and their privacy.

Her testimony has become a central part of Musk’s legal struggle. It connects personal relationships to corporate governance and leadership decisions at OpenAI.

The case could have serious implications not only for the governance structure of OpenAI. It could also affect how future AI companies approach nonprofit missions, private investment, and executive accountability.

The trial is still ongoing, and Zilis is one of its most critical witnesses. She sits at the center of one of the world’s biggest artificial intelligence battles. She also stands at the center of one of Silicon Valley’s most closely watched personal relationships.

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