In a federal courtroom in Oakland, California, on Wednesday, former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis detailed her personal relationship with Elon Musk, which led to her having four of his children, as part of Musk’s lawsuit seeking to reverse OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit entity. Zilis’s testimony centered on her early involvement in discussions about OpenAI’s corporate structure and her ongoing professional ties with Musk.
Early Discussions on OpenAI’s Future
Zilis, who has over 15 years of experience as a venture capitalist and has held executive roles at Tesla and Neuralink, joined OpenAI as an advisor in 2016. She testified that her direct involvement in discussions about OpenAI’s potential shift to a for-profit model began early on.
Emails presented in court revealed that as early as 2017, there were significant conversations about OpenAI needing to transition from its non-profit status to attract substantial investment. These discussions involved key figures like OpenAI President Greg Brockman and co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who favored a B Corp structure.
Musk, a co-founder who left OpenAI in 2018 but remained an early donor, expressed a desire for greater control. His proposals included securing additional board seats and integrating OpenAI into Tesla, possibly as a B Corp subsidiary. Zilis noted in written exchanges that such a move could
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