Shivon Zilis: Elon Musk's Half-Indian Partner and AI Tech Executive

Shivon Zilis possesses dual citizenship in Canada and the United States.

Elon Musk recently revealed that Shivon Zilis, who serves as an executive at his neurotechnology company Neuralink and is his partner, has half-Indian heritage.

"My partner Shivon, she's half Indian," Musk disclosed during a podcast conversation with Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha. "She was given up for adoption. She grew up in Canada," he further explained.

Musk also mentioned that one of their sons carries the middle name "Sekhar," honoring Indian-American astrophysicist and Nobel Prize winner Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. "One of my sons with her... his middle name is Sekar after Chandra Sekar," Musk stated.

Together, Musk and Zilis have welcomed four children: twins named Strider and Azure, a daughter called Arcadia, and a son named Seldon Lycurgus.

Shivon Zilis was born in Ontario, Canada in 1986. She maintains citizenship in both Canada and the United States. She studied economics and philosophy at Yale University. During her time at Yale, she served as goalkeeper for the Yale Bulldogs women's ice hockey team and also tried to join the fencing team. She completed her Yale education in 2008.

Zilis began her professional journey at IBM. She subsequently joined Bloomberg Beta, Bloomberg LP's venture capital division, where she worked on internal startups and partnerships, specialized in early-stage machine intelligence investments, and became a founding team member.

She also contributed as a fellow at the University of Toronto's Creative Destruction Lab, providing guidance to startups in deep tech and artificial intelligence. Forbes recognized her accomplishments in 2015 by including her in their "30 Under 30" list in the venture capital category for her groundbreaking work in AI.

In 2016, Shivon Zilis joined OpenAI, which Elon Musk co-founded, eventually becoming the youngest board member, a position she maintained until her resignation in March 2023. She met Musk during her tenure at OpenAI and later became involved with his other enterprises, including Neuralink and Tesla. The couple now parents four children together.

Zilis joined Neuralink, Musk's neurotechnology company focused on developing brain-machine interfaces, in 2017. She assumed the role of director of operations and special projects, spearheading early development and operational strategy. In September 2023, she accepted a board position at Shield AI, a defense technology company that concentrates on artificial intelligence for aircraft.