Shivon Zilis is an artificial intelligence specialist who has three kids with Elon Musk. Aside from being a mother to three of Elon Musk’s children, Shivon is also respected in the industry for her work and connection with one of the biggest names in innovation. This article will take you through her life and career and most importantly, her reasons for being famous.
Table of Contents
Birth, Parents, and Education
On February 8, 1986, Shivon Zilis was born to Richard Zilis, a Canadian father and Sharda, a Punjabi Indian mother. She completed high school in her home city of Markham and went on to study economics and philosophy at Yale University, graduating in 2008. While at university, she also played as a goaltender for Yale’s ice hockey team.
Shivon Zilis has turned 38 years old as of December 2024.
Career
After completing her education at Yale University in 2008, she started working with IBM in the department of financial technologies in countries like Peru and Indonesia.
In 2012, Shivon took a leap as a founding partner of an American venture capital firm called Bloomberg Beta, where she focused on investments related to machine intelligence, a field that excited her. It was this combination of intelligence and entrepreneurship that got her a spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2015.
After this, she joined Tesla from 2017 to 2019, where she became a project director and was active in the Autopilot and chip development teams. Following her work with Tesla, she took on director of strategy and special projects roles in Neuralink, where she worked closely alongside Elon Musk.
Not only this, but her involvement in the technological world continued as she was also a board member for OpenAI until 2023.
Association with Elon Musk
Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis came into contact after they both got involved in the world of technology and business, particularly during her work for Neuralink, where Zilis is the director of operations and special projects.
Given the nature of Shivon Zilis and Elon Musk’s working relationship, it comes as no surprise that a romance blossomed between the two. They had twins together, a boy named Strider Musk and a girl nicknamed Azure, that they welcomed and gave birth to in November of 2021.
For a while, the twins were the Musk family’s best-kept secret, but their names came out courtesy of court documents in July 2022. In January 2024, the couple welcomed their third child, but the information around this baby is under wraps.
Shivon Zilis and Elon Musk’s three children reside with their mother in Austin Texas, in a gated neighborhood that is located approximately near the Tesla Gigafactory.
Musk, who has a tight schedule, spends some time in Texas and California, where he has businesses.
He seems busy but has a role to play in his kids’ lives, where he makes sure every alternate week living with him in Texas or California.
Social Media Presence
Zilis can be found on the platform X (previously Twitter) on the handle @shivon, where she shares professional thoughts from time to time. At this time, she has about 135.3K followers.
In September 2023, Zilis and Elon Musk were spotted together along with the twins, Strider and Azure. A biographer named Walter Isaacson had taken some family photos with Elon Musk and his children during a casual time at his house. The photos were among the first to show Zilis and Musk with their children, providing a glimpse to the audience of their personal lives.
Disagreement with Grimes
In the month of September 2023, a public dispute surfaced among Grimes and Shivon Zilis as both of them share children with Elon Musk. Grimes vented her frustration on social media by alleging that Musk has kept their son from her and that Zilis has blocked her on social media. She posted, “Please tell Shivon to unblock me and tell Elon to allow me to see my son or plz reply to my lawyer.
The situation created conflicts for the parties obliged. On the other hand, after direct communication between Grimes and Zilis, they sorted out their differences.
Grimes afterwards provided an apology for her previous remarks, explaining that she and Zilis have had an overdue conversation and actually do respect one another.
Zilis kindly replied to this and said that she is looking forward to arranging playdates for their children.
Elon Musk 12 Children
Children with Justine Wilson:
- Nevada Alexander Musk: Born in 2002, Nevada was Elon and Justine’s first child. Tragically, he passed away at 10 weeks old due to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
- Griffin and Vivian Jenna Wilson: Twins born in 2004 through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Vivian, who is transgender, legally changed her name and gender in 2022, adopting her mother’s maiden name, Wilson.
- Kai, Saxon, and Damian Musk: Triplets born in 2006, also via IVF. Following Elon and Justine’s divorce in 2008, they have shared custody of their five children.
Children with Claire Boucher (Grimes):
- X Æ A-Xii Musk: Commonly referred to as “X,” he was born in May 2020. His unique name combines characters and numerals, pronounced as “X Ash A Twelve.”
- Exa Dark Sideræl Musk: Nicknamed “Y,” she was born in December 2021 via surrogate. Her name reflects a combination of personal and scientific inspirations.
- Techno Mechanicus: Referred to as “Tau,” his existence was revealed in September 2023. Details about his birth have been kept private.
Children with Shivon Zilis:
- Strider and Azure Musk: Twins born in November 2021. Their birth became public knowledge in July 2022 through court documents.
- Unnamed Child: In early 2024, Elon and Shivon welcomed a third child. Specific details, including the child’s name, have not been publicly disclosed.
Final Words
Shivon Zilis happens to be a very interesting person with great professional achievements in technology and artificial intelligence. She, along with Elon Musk and her children create quite a buzz. Shivon continues to inspire with her achievements and dedication to her family and work.
