Source: Mother of Musk children testifies about OpenAI board role in tech billionaire feud Publisher: Courthouse News Service | Author: Carly Nairn Published: May 6, 2026 | Archived: May 6, 2026

“When the father of your babies starts a competitive effort and starts recruiting from OpenAI there is nothing to be done,” former board member Shivon Zilis texted a friend about her resignation.

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — Elon Musk’s romantic partner testified Wednesday about her loyalty to the tech billionaire while serving as a board member at OpenAI in the high-profile jury trial over the company’s for-profit restructuring.

Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member and one of four mothers of Musk’s 14 children, testified she was involved in discussions between co-founders about many potential options for the ChatGPT creator’s structure from 2017 through 2023.

In 2023, she stepped down from the OpenAI’s nonprofit board because Musk started his own for-profit AI company, xAI. Zilis said it would have not been “appropriate” for her to stay.

“When the father of your babies starts a competitive effort and starts recruiting from OpenAI there is nothing to be done,” she texted her friend about her resignation.

OpenAI counsel Sarah Eddy asked during cross-examination if Musk had ever placed any restrictions on donations to OpenAI’s nonprofit or if there were any documents that promised or required OpenAI to remain a nonprofit and open-sourced.

“I don’t recall,” Zilis answered.

She further said an email from co-founder and current OpenAI CEO Sam Altman saying, “I remain enthusiastic about the nonprofit structure!” did not appear to be a promise.

For most of her testimony Zilis was stoically calm, except when briefly mentioning her health issues and Musk’s encouragement to have children, including his offer to be a sperm donor so she could become a mother. Their relationship at the time was platonic, she said, but now it’s romantic. Zilis insisted their relationship didn’t influence her duties as an OpenAI board member.

“I had an allegiance to the best outcome: AI for humanity,” she said.

Eddy attempted to show the nine-person jury that Zilis, and by extension Musk, were trying to steer OpenAI into a merger with Tesla early in OpenAI’s development. There was a fleeting idea, Zilis said, that Tesla would create an AI research lab working to develop artificial general intelligence but the company didn’t follow through with it. In December 2017 emails to a Tesla executive, Zilis said two of OpenAI’s co-founders, Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever, did not want to join the nonprofit with Tesla, and she was skeptical as to why.

“They haven’t internalized the advantages of buying this in Tesla for stealth advantage,” she said about OpenAI’s tech.“They are not naturally hardwired as maneuverers.”

The jury also watched a video deposition from Mira Murati, who served as interim CEO for three days after Altman was ousted by the company’s board in 2023 before being reinstated five days later. She testified she was the primary point person between OpenAI and Microsoft and led OpenAI’s product commercialization as the company’s chief technology officer.

Murati said Altman was not always candid with her about his management decisions, or lack thereof, but ultimately signed the OpenAI employee petition to have him reinstated because it would “stabilize” the company.

At the end of the day, the jury also watched a video deposition of Helen Toner, an OpenAI board member during Altman’s ouster, who was concerned about AI safety. She said that Altman said three variants of ChatGPT were submitted, tested and approved by the company’s deployment safety board. However, after viewing materials she said only one of the three was actually submitted and tested. Furthermore, she said Microsoft’s release of an AI test version in India wasn’t mentioned by Altman in the board meeting and was done without the board’s knowledge.

Musk brings breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment claims against Altman and Brockman stemming from a 2024 lawsuit and seeks $150 billion in compensatory and punitive damages from OpenAI and Microsoft for betraying its original nonprofit mission. Musk, Altman, Brockman and Sutskever co-founded OpenAI in 2015. Musk claims Altman and Brockman deceived him about moving OpenAI from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity that no longer had a “fiduciary duty to benefit humanity.”

When the lawsuit was initially filed, Zilis signed her name to the complaint against Altman and Brockman but is no longer a co-plaintiff in the suit.

Microsoft is a co-defendant in the case over a claim of aiding and abetting the breach of charitable trust, with Musk claiming the company benefited from his early donations.

Altman partnered with Microsoft in 2019 after the software company agreed to invest $1 billion and later made another $10 billion investment in its for-profit arm. OpenAI is currently valued at more than $850 billion, with Microsoft’s 27% stake in the for-profit valued at around $200 billion.

Despite a Musk attorney request on Tuesday to stop the audio livestream of the trial for Zilis’ testimony, citing safety concerns, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers declined the request, saying the attorneys did not show enough evidence why Zilis should have a special consideration over other witnesses whose testimony was livestreamed.

The Barack Obama appointee said there wasn’t a “sufficient compelling issue of concern.”

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