Elon Musk's long-running feud with OpenAI reached an unusually intimate point in a California courtroom this week, when evidence revealed that Shivon Zilis, a senior executive at his companies and the secret mother of several of his children had quietly acted as a key go-between on AI strategy and governance from 2017 to 2023.

The news came after Zilis appeared in court on Wednesday as a witness in Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and its leaders, a case in which he accuses the San Francisco-based lab of abandoning its original nonprofit mission and misleading him over its shift to a profit-driven structure.

For those who have only followed the AI story through product launches and headline-grabbing demos, the testimony opened a window into the behind-the-scenes politics that shaped the industry's most powerful player.

"He wanted everyone around him to have more children."Former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis testified that Elon Musk offered to be her sperm donor while their relationship was still platonic.https://t.co/dnkAGXpXB7

Musk, who co-founded and bankrolled OpenAI, is suing the company and its top executives over what he says was a breach of a charitable trust and unjust enrichment when they set up a for-profit arm and later took multibillion-dollar backing from Microsoft. Zilis was initially listed as a co-plaintiff, but the court heard she asked to be removed from the case before the trial began.

OpenAI has rejected Musk's claims and argues, in legal filings, that he repeatedly pushed for a for-profit structure himself and only turned litigious after failing to secure full control. Nothing has been finally adjudicated, so many of the claims on both sides remain allegations rather than established fact and should be treated with caution.

What made Zilis' appearance so awkwardly important was the picture it drew of her role behind the scenes. Evidence aired in court suggested she served as a conduit between Musk and OpenAI's leadership for years, not just while both were formally connected to the company but even after Musk left the board and stopped funding it.

One of the trial's central questions is whether Musk was cut out of the organisation he helped build, or whether he walked away after failing to bend it to his will. Zilis' testimony did not settle that argument, but it did show how entangled the personal and corporate relationships had become inside one of the most consequential AI disputes in the industry.

The texts entered as evidence were unusually blunt. After Musk had left OpenAI, Zilis messaged him asking whether he wanted her to stay 'close and friendly' with the company 'to keep info flowing' or begin to step back, adding that the 'trust game is about to get tricky.' According to her testimony, Musk told her to remain close while he planned to recruit OpenAI staff to Tesla.

Former OpenAI board member says Elon Musk offered her sperm donationshttps://t.co/qRQAlp84zT

Source: International Business Times UK