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OpenAI trial: Mother of Musk's children says he offered Altman a Tesla board seat

Cnbc · · 514 words · By Ashley Capoot
Legal Dispute Corporate Governance Personal Relationships
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/07/open-ai-trial-shivon-zilis-musk-altman-tesla-boa…

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Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

14 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 6
schedule Pending 4
info Single Source 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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“The high-stakes trial in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will conclude its second week of proceedings on Thursday.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of general definitions of what a 'trial' is from Wikipedia and Merriam-Webster, but contains no specific information regarding the dates or the current week of proceedings for the Musk v. Altman trial.
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web search NEUTRAL — In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One …
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial
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web search NEUTRAL — The meaning of TRIAL is the formal examination before a competent tribunal of the matter in issue in a civil or criminal cause in order to determine such issue. How to use trial in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trial
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 7, 2026 · A trial is a structured legal proceeding where each side presents evidence, questions witnesses, and argues its position before a judge or jury that decides the outcome. Whether the case…
https://legalclarity.org/what-happens-during-the-trial-proce…
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“Musk's attorneys called several witnesses to the stand over the course of the week, including OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Shivon Zilis”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources (WIRED, Vanity Fair, and a news report) confirm that both Greg Brockman and Shivon Zilis testified as witnesses in the Musk v. Altman trial.
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web search NEUTRAL — Actor Amber Heard, Musk’s then-girlfriend, had served the group whiskey and then dashed off with a friend, Brockman, OpenAI’s cofounder and president, testified in federal court during the trial for M…
https://www.wired.com/story/greg-brockman-testifies-elon-mus…
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web search NEUTRAL — Shivon Zilis, who took the stand on Wednesday, is one of the most complicated witnesses in the dramatic trial.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/shivon-zilis-musk-altm…
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web search NEUTRAL — Shivon Zilis arrives at court to attend the trial in Elon Musk's lawsuit over OpenAI's for-profit conversion, in Oakland, California, on Tuesday.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/06/shivon-zi…
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“Shivon Zilis... served on the startup's board”
CORROBORATED
Two independent cross-references (Nbcwashington and Flipboard) confirm that Shivon Zilis served on the OpenAI board of directors.
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cross reference SUPPORTS — served on the OpenAI board of directors until 2023
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/op…
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cross reference SUPPORTS — Shivon Zilis [was] on the board of OpenAI
https://flipboard.com/topic/news/former-openai-board-member-…
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“Zilis, who has four children with Musk”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including a cross-reference and three web search results, confirm that Shivon Zilis and Elon Musk have four children together.
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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk has welcomed another son. On X, his partner Shivon Zilis announced that she and Musk are now parents to four beautiful kids.
https://www.aol.com/news/elon-musk-welcomes-fourth-child-035…
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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk and tech executive Shivon Zilis welcomed their fourth child together, according to an X post by Zilis on Friday.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/baby-14-neurali…
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web search NEUTRAL — Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis announced on X that she had welcomed another child with Elon Musk. Musk responded to her post with a heart emoji. The pair had already welcomed three children together…
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-neuralink-exec-shi…
+ 1 more evidence source
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“Musk sued OpenAI, Altman and Brockman in 2024”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (CNBC and several web search results) confirm that Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Greg Brockman in 2024.
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web search NEUTRAL — Yet "in 2023, Defendants Mr. Altman, Mr. Brockman, and OpenAI set the Founding Agreement aflame," the lawsuit stated. Friction point: OpenAI released its GPT-4 model last year. Musk's lawsuit alleges …
https://www.axios.com/2024/03/01/elon-musk-openai-sam-altman…
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web search NEUTRAL — The new suit, filed in federal court, claims that Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman knowingly misled him when they teamed up with him to create OpenAI. “Elon Musk’s case against Sam Altman and OpenAI is a t…
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/technology/elon-musk-open…
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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk filed a new lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman Monday, re-opening a legal battle in his fights over artificial intelligence.The new lawsuit, filed against OpenAI, Altman and co-founde…
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/05/business/elon-musk-new-la…
+ 1 more evidence source
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“He co-founded the startup alongside Altman and Brockman in 2015.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and other sources confirm that OpenAI was founded in December 2015 by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and others.
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web search NEUTRAL — Former headquarters at the Pioneer Building in San Francisco In December 2015, OpenAI was founded as the nonprofit organization OpenAI, Inc., [17] by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockm…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openai
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web search NEUTRAL — Mr. Musk filed his lawsuit in 2024, nine years after he and Mr. Altman and Greg Brockman, the company president also named in the suit, founded OpenAI with several A.I. researchers.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/28/technology/openai-sa…
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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk and Sam Altman are two of the biggest names in generative AI today, and they have a history of public rivalry. After co-founding OpenAI with CTO Greg Brockman, research director Ilya ...
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-elon-musk-sam-altm…
+ 1 more evidence source
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“OpenAI established a for-profit subsidiary after Musk left the company in 2018”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web search results confirm that OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary/arm after Musk left the board/company in 2018.
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web search NEUTRAL — After Musk left the board in 2018 and Altman became CEO, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary to attract funding from Microsoft and other investors. Altman is now working to transition the subsidiar…
https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/sam-altman-rejects-…
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web search NEUTRAL — After Musk left the nonprofit, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary in 2019. This allowed the company to raise the money it needed to develop its models more quickly.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/elon-musk-asks-150-billi…
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web search NEUTRAL — After Musk left the company’s board in early 2018, OpenAI created a for-profit arm, in part to make it easier to fundraise.
https://www.wired.com/story/openai-fundraising-round-softban…
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“Zilis said that her primary role at OpenAI was to serve as a liaison between Musk, Altman, Brockman and Ilya Sutskever”
SINGLE SOURCE
While web results confirm Shivon Zilis is a witness and has ties to both Musk and OpenAI, none of the provided evidence explicitly states that she testified that her primary role was to serve as a liaison between Musk, Altman, Brockman, and Sutskever.
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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
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · Shivon Zilis steps into a high-stakes AI courtroom clash. Her ties to both Musk and OpenAI raise questions about influence and access. The jury’s view of her role may shape the outcome of …
https://www.financialexpress.com/world-news/us-news/who-is-s…
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web search NEUTRAL — Shivon Alice Zilis (born February 8, 1986) is a Canadian technology executive and venture capitalist. [1][2]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivon_Zilis
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“Musk wanted OpenAI to join Tesla, and he offered Altman a board seat at the company.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web search results report that emails and testimony presented in court revealed Musk offered Sam Altman a seat on Tesla's board as part of an effort to influence/join OpenAI with Tesla.
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web search NEUTRAL — Musk even offered the OpenAI CEO a seat on Tesla’s board, as revealed through emails and testimony presented in federal court on Wednesday during the Musk v. Altman trial.Altman Attempt Bring Elon Fin…
https://altagic.com/blog/elon-musks-final-attempt-to-influen…
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web search NEUTRAL — Samuel Harris Altman (born April 22, 1985) is an American entrepreneur who has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of the AI company OpenAI since 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
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web search NEUTRAL — Musk went as far as offering the OpenAI CEO a Tesla board seat, according to emails and testimony presented in federal court on Wednesday during the Musk v. Altman trial.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-recruit-sam-altman-tes…
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“In 2023, Musk started a competing AI company, xAI”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results to evaluate this specific claim.
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“merged it with his rocket company, SpaceX, earlier this year.”
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“Zilis... began working with OpenAI as an informal advisor in 2016”
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“She served on OpenAI's board from 2020 to 2023”
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“she ultimately resigned in 2023 when Musk decided to start xAI.”
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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.