Meet Shivon Zilis, Elon Musk’s baby mama who just had her 3rd baby, his 12th overall: the AI queen met the world’s richest man and Tesla CEO through work – and defends him on Twitter
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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has always been outspoken about his concern for the population decline, has fathered his 12th known child.
Earlier this year, Musk quietly welcomed his third baby with Shivon Zilis, an executive at his brain implant company Neuralink Corp, as reported by Bloomberg.
![Elon Musk just fathered another child with Neuralink exec Shivon Zilis. Photo: DPA](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/06/26/290f719a-0136-406b-88ca-7a1e6d6bac92_6db65406.jpg)
Zilis works in the field of AI and rocketed to global notoriety after it was revealed that she had welcomed fraternal twins Strider and Azure, two, through IVF with Musk in November 2021. The name and sex of Musk and Zilis’ new baby is yet to be revealed.
![Shivon Zilis (left), who now has three children with Elon Musk. Photo: @shivon/X](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/06/26/b07eb6c3-b6f5-4e1e-a3e4-9f8b35649c9f_723f1fe8.jpg)
But just who is Zilis, 38, the latest woman to have a baby with one of the world’s most controversial thinkers? Meet Zilis, the Canadian techie who plays ice hockey – and once met Prince Harry.
Shivon Zilis is an AI queen
![Shivon Zilis, the mother of three of Elon Musk’s children, is respected in the field of AI. Photo: @AlphaMaleTips44/X](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/06/26/a939cd56-d071-487f-b8e6-0242ca0ba770_63046fb3.jpg)
She works at Neuralink
![Shivon Zilis was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in the category of venture capital in 2015. Photo: @arielpaper_/Instagram](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/06/26/21476f0d-863d-4667-9893-f610fa9976c1_56c887e1.jpg)
Zilis grew up in Canada and moved to the US, attending Yale University. She was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in the category of venture capital in 2015, as part of the investment team at Bloomberg Beta.
How did Shivon Zilis meet Elon Musk?
![Shivon Zilis has defended Musk on social media. Photo: @shivon/Twitter](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/06/26/44606f96-efdd-4b68-9869-535576c12758_86951d3a.jpg)
According to The Washington Post, she joined OpenAI as an adviser in 2016 and later became a board member. She also worked at Tesla for two years, where she focused on AI-led projects. It was through these projects that she met Musk.
Zilis is not shy to show her support of Musk on X, even once switching her timeline on the platform to a reverse chronological view, which Musk has advocated for. She also wrote on X of Musk in 2020, “I’ve never met anyone who goes through more personal pain to fight for an inspiring future for humanity – and has done so tirelessly for decades.” Underneath the post, Grimes posted a reply of a star emoji.
In 2023, US media reported that Musk, a vocal pronatalist, believes only smart people should procreate.
![Elon Musk in 2024; he now has 12 known children. Photo: Reuters](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/06/26/d3bb6eba-000a-4eab-9f14-ce2207d09ff1_ac707f82.jpg)
She’s met Prince Harry
![Shivon Zilis with Prince Harry. Photo: @shivon/X](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/06/26/3025c0a6-2ae0-4f22-96ed-929474a9a018_14804385.jpg)
What does her social media tell us about her?
![Shivon Zilis, mother of three of Elon Musk’s children, is often seen at hockey games. Photo: @Shivon/X](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/06/26/63e4954f-21a4-496e-9f17-c9a993c022fe_a0d368e3.jpg)
Zilis often posts videos and pictures of herself at hockey games – she played the sport in Canada growing up, as well as later at Yale – or ice skating with her children. She also shared a photograph of herself with Musk and her twins in September 2023, with the caption: “That was a happy memory.”
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- Musk has fathered 12 children: his eldest with Justine Musk, Nevada Alexander Musk, died as an infant in 2002, and he’s also had kids with ex-partner Grimes, who’s suing him over parental rights
- Zilis and Musk met over her AI work – she was once on the board of OpenAI – and Musk has been outspoken about wanting smart people to have kids, as detailed in his biography by Walter Isaacson