Former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis testifies in Musk v. Altman trial regarding role as intermediary
Zilis admitted to concealing the paternity of her first two children from the board and withholding information about Musk's competitive AI venture plans
Shivon Zilis, a former board member of OpenAI and mother to four of Elon Musk's children, has provided testimony in the Musk v. Altman trial detailing her role as a conduit between Musk and the company's leadership. During the proceedings, Zilis confirmed she worked between 80 and 100 hours weekly for Musk across Tesla, Neuralink, and OpenAI since 2017, despite denying the title of chief of staff.
Crucially, Zilis admitted to concealing the paternity of her first two children, twins born in 2021, from the OpenAI board until public reports revealed the father. She stated that her initial call following the revelation was to her own father, followed by a call to Sam Altman. This concealment occurred while she was actively serving on the board, a fact that Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president, only learned of through news reports.
Her testimony highlighted her function in taking notes on discussions between Musk, Altman, Brockman, and Ilya Sutskever regarding OpenAI's potential conversion to a for-profit entity. Emails attributed to Zilis from the period suggest she documented these conversations and flagged a funding freeze to Musk before OpenAI leadership was aware of the decision.
Zilis further admitted to withholding information from the board concerning Musk's plans to create a competitive AI venture, known as xAI. She acknowledged prioritising Musk's interests over the organisation's mission during this time, though she claimed she initially believed her relationship with Musk was platonic before resigning from the board upon learning of his new venture.
During cross-examination, Zilis appeared to recall details of conversations she had previously stated she did not remember, including a text message sent to a friend indicating she had to resign because Musk's new effort had become well-known. She also confirmed telling Altman when Musk was in a "good headspace" for conversation, a detail that inadvertently supported Brockman's earlier testimony regarding his fears of Musk.
The trial has also uncovered evidence of Musk's 2017 attempt to recruit Altman for a Tesla AI lab, a plan that ultimately did not materialise. Zilis confirmed this recruitment drive during her testimony, noting that the initiative never came to fruition despite detailed planning and discussions held in 2017 and 2018.
