A court case involving Elon Musk and OpenAI has led to renewed public attention surrounding the billionaire’s personal life, including how he fathered the number of children he now has.
During a hearing, Shivon Zilis, a high-profile executive involved in early conversations around OpenAI’s direction before later working closely with Musk-linked tech ventures, testified about the arrangement.
Zilis has four children with Musk and is one of several women publicly known to share kids with the tech billionaire.
OpenAI Exec Explains Why She Accepted Elon Musk’s Offer
Zilis took the stand in federal court in Oakland, California, to testify about her ties to Musk amid the tech mogul’s legal feud involving OpenAI.
As part of her testimony, Zilis claimed Musk offered to donate his sperm to help her have children, and she accepted despite their professional relationship.
“I really wanted to be a mum, and Elon made the offer around that time, and I accepted,” said Zilis, who played a key role in early discussions surrounding OpenAI.
“He was encouraging everyone around him at that time to have kids, and he’d noticed I did not. He offered to donate,” she added, per the BBC.
Shivon Zilis Addressed Ties To Musk In Court
The need for Zilis’s testimony appeared to stem from her past roles across several of Musk’s companies, including Tesla and Neuralink, before she later became involved with OpenAI as an advisor in 2016.
According to arguments presented by lawyers connected to the company, Zilis’s exposure to both sides of the AI ecosystem raised concerns that she may have relayed information to Musk after he departed from the organization in 2018. She, however, remained involved with OpenAI in various capacities, including serving as a director after Musk left.
Zilis appeared to deny any impropriety during her testimony by revealing that she was not romantically involved with Musk at the time he offered to donate his sperm. She also explained that she accepted the proposal because of personal health considerations that prevented her from pursuing a more traditional path to motherhood.
Zilis Says Elon Musk Is An Active Dad
Today, Zilis shares four children with Musk, including twins the pair welcomed in 2021.
During her testimony, the tech exec claimed she had initially wanted Musk to serve only as a sperm donor rather than an active father, but said the arrangement has since evolved.
According to Zilis, the tech billionaire now plays an active role in the children’s lives and spends several hours each week with them.
The executive also revealed that she kept Musk’s paternity of the twins hidden from Sam Altman for several years. She ultimately disclosed the information ahead of a bombshell media report, though she claimed neither Altman nor other executives believed it warranted her departure from OpenAI at the time.
Inside Musk’s Expanding Family Tree
Apart from Zilis, Musk also shares ten other children with multiple women, born at different points over the years.
According to Parade, the billionaire’s first six children were with Canadian author Justine Wilson, to whom he was married from 2000 to 2008. Musk later welcomed three more children with singer Grimes, including at least one born via surrogacy between 2020 and 2022.
More recently, Musk allegedly welcomed a child with conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair in 2024. News of the child did not become public until 2025, when St. Clair referenced the situation in a controversial social media post amid reports that their relationship had become strained.
Elon Musk Has Publicly Feuded With His Daughter
Beyond what Zilis shared during her testimony, relatively little is publicly known about Musk’s relationships with many of his children, with one notable exception.
Musk’s relationship with his daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, formerly known as Xavier Musk before changing her name and gender identity, has reportedly remained strained for years.
Wilson has publicly criticized her father on multiple occasions, including over allegations regarding his reported use of sex-selective IVF at the time of her conception, as well as comments he has made about her transition.
Musk has also addressed their estrangement publicly in the past.
“My son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus,” he said in 2024, per Times of India.