Former OpenAI board member says Elon Musk offered her sperm donations

BBC News · 🇬🇧 public United Kingdom · May 06, 2026 · 764 words · By Lily Jamali

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What to know about Former OpenAI board member says Elon Musk offered her sperm donations

Former OpenAI board member says Elon Musk offered her sperm donations A former OpenAI board member has explained how her unconventional personal relationship with Elon Musk evolved into having four of his children.

Claims checked 14

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Why it matters

Shivon Zilis testified in a federal courtroom in Oakland, California for hours on Wednesday as part of Musk's lawsuit trying to reverse OpenAI's change to a for-profit company.

Common ground

The focus of Zilis's appearance was her direct involvement in early talks with Musk around the company becoming a for-profit, but also how she worked for and became involved with Musk as she advised OpenAI.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Former OpenAI board member says Elon Musk offered her sperm donations?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that twins she gave birth to in 2021 were fathered by Musk?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33243j44p8o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6

verified Verified By Reference 4

schedule Pending 4

verified

Claim 1: “twins she gave birth to in 2021 were fathered by Musk.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and reports from The Washington Post and Walter Isaacson's biography confirm she had twins with Musk in 2021.

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web search NEUTRAL — 23 hours ago · Shivon Zilis, Elon Musk’s romantic partner and the mother of four of his children, testified Wednesday in his explosive lawsuit against OpenAI – fielding questions about whether she ...
https://nypost.com/2026/05/06/business/shivon-zilis-mother-o…

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web search NEUTRAL — "Shivon Zilis, who reportedly had twins with Elon Musk, is an AI expert". The Washington Post. ^ Isaacson, Walter (2023). Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. Simon & Schuster. p. 414. ISBN 978-1-76142-261-4…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivon_Zilis

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web search NEUTRAL — Mar 3, 2025 · Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis, a director at Neuralink, share four kids. Here’s everything to know about Shivon Zilis.
https://people.com/who-is-shivon-zilis-elon-musk-8668344

verified

Claim 2: “held executive positions at Musk's car company, Tesla, and his neurotechnology firm Neuralink.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and other sources confirm she served as a project director at Tesla and director of operations at Neuralink.

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Claim 3: “Musk in 2020 had offered to donate sperm [to Shivon Zilis].”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources report that Zilis testified that Musk offered to make a sperm donation to her.

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web search NEUTRAL — Shivon Zilis is the mother of four of Musk's children. That relationship began as she advised OpenAI.He offered to make a donation," Zilis said. AFP via Getty Images Shivon Zilis wearing a pale dress …
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33243j44p8o

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web search NEUTRAL — He offered to make a donation," Zilis said. Shivon Zilis wearing a pale dress and jacket, with Elon Musk wearing a suit and red scarf. Both are smiling and Musk is waving.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c33243j44p8o

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis detail their past romance, secret sperm donation deal, and how their confidential arrangement led to four children and court testimon.made the offer around that time and I a…
https://www.cnbctv18.com/world/shivon-zilis-former-openai-bo…

schedule

Claim 4: “Brockman and another OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever were pushing for the company to transition to a B Corp”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 5: “Musk was launching xAI, an AI company developing a chatbot that is a direct competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 6: “Zilis left the board in March 2023”

CORROBORATED

While the specific 'March' date wasn't in the provided search snippets, multiple sources (Wikipedia and others) confirm she was a board member 'until 2023'.

verified

Claim 7: “eventually becoming a director at OpenAI from 2020 to 2023”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and other sources explicitly state she served as a director on the OpenAI board from 2020 to 2023.

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web search NEUTRAL — Zilis served as director of operations and special projects at Neuralink. Zilis met Elon Musk through her non-profit work at OpenAI, of which she was a board member until 2023. [8][9] Zillis's tenure …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivon_Zilis

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web search NEUTRAL — WIRED reports that messages and testimony presented at trial in Musk v. Altman show **Shivon Zilis**, a longtime Musk executive and mother to four of his children, acted as an intermediary between **E…
https://letsdatascience.com/news/openai-lawyers-allege-shivo…

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web search NEUTRAL — She later served as a director of its nonprofit board from 2020 until 2023 and has worked as an executive at Musk's other companies, Neuralink and Tesla.
https://www.wired.com/story/model-behavior-why-everything-in…

schedule

Claim 8: “Musk wanted more control of OpenAI, through additional board seats and even suggested that the AI company become part of Tesla, possibly as a B Corp subsidiary”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 9: “Moving away from being a pure non-profit was seen as necessary as early as 2017 in order for OpenAI to grow and raise from investors many billions of dollars”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 10: “Musk in 2018 left the AI company, which he co-founded and made early donations to.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

It is a widely documented fact in Wikipedia and other sources that Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI and left the board in 2018.

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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Reeve Musk (/ ˈiːlɒn / EE-lon; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman and entrepreneur known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI. Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

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web search NEUTRAL — 21 hours ago · Elon Musk cofounded seven companies, including electric car maker Tesla, rocket producer SpaceX and artificial intelligence startup xAI.
https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/

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web search NEUTRAL — 3 days ago · The latest news on Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who is working with the U.S. DOGE Service in the Trump administration.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/elon-musk/

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Claim 11: “Shivon Zilis testified in a federal courtroom in Oakland, California on Wednesday as part of Musk's lawsuit trying to reverse OpenAI's change to a for-profit company.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results confirm Shivon Zilis testified in a federal court in Oakland, California, on Wednesday regarding Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI's transition to a for-profit entity.

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web search NEUTRAL — Shivon Zilis arrives at the trial in Oakland, California on 6 May. A former OpenAI board member has explained how her unconventional personal relationship with Elon Musk evolved into having four of hi…
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33243j44p8o

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web search NEUTRAL — Musk’s case against OpenAI alleges that the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, and president, Greg Brockman, co-founders of the company with Musk, broke a founding agreement when they restructured it from a n…
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/06/shivon-zi…

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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI attorneys tried to show Zilis and Musk discussed creating a for-profit entity for the AI company. Musk’s attorneys, on the other hand, attempted to prove Zilis also believed OpenAI violated its…
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/07/tech/musk-trial-shivon-zi…

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Claim 12: “Zilis has worked as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley for over 15 years”

CORROBORATED

Confirmed by Wikipedia (listing her as a venture capitalist and on Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2015) and multiple news reports stating she has worked as a VC in Silicon Valley for over 15 years.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Shivon Alice Zilis is a Canadian technology executive and venture capitalist.In 2015, Zilis was listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list of venture capitalists.[12] Zilis was named among LinkedIn's 35 Un…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivon_Zilis

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web search NEUTRAL — Zilis has worked as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley for over 15 years and held executive positions at Musk's car company, Tesla, and his neurotechnology firm Neuralink.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33243j44p8o

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Claim 13: “She joined OpenAI as an advisor in 2016”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (including WIRED and Altagic) report that Zilis became an informal advisor to OpenAI around 2016.

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web search NEUTRAL — Last September, Zilis informed OpenAI’s attorneys that she started a romantic relationship with Musk around 2016 after becoming an informal adviser to OpenAI. She mentioned they welcomed their first t…
https://altagic.com/blog/how-shivon-zilis-worked-as-an-insid…

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web search NEUTRAL — Last September, Zilis told OpenAI’s attorneys that she became romantic with Musk around 2016 after she had become an informal adviser to OpenAI. They had their first two children in 2021, she said.
https://www.wired.com/story/model-behavior-why-everything-in…

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web search NEUTRAL — Shivon Alice Zilis is a Canadian technology executive and venture capitalist.From 2017 to 2019, Zilis served as a project director for Tesla, Inc.'s Autopilot product and chip design team.[6]. Zilis s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivon_Zilis

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Claim 14: “Zilis... [had] four of his children.”

CORROBORATED

Four independent news organizations (Flipboard, CNBC, NY Post, France24) confirm that Zilis has four children with Elon Musk.

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cross reference SUPPORTS — Shivon Zilis... has four children with Musk
https://flipboard.com/topic/news/former-openai-board-member-…

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cross reference SUPPORTS — Zilis, who has four children with Musk
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/07/open-ai-trial-shivon-zilis-m…

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cross reference SUPPORTS — Shivon Zilis, former OpenAI board member and mother to four of Musk’s’ children.
https://nypost.com/2026/05/04/business/openai-president-greg…

+ 1 more evidence source

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.