PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Shivon Zilis

Shivon Zilis is a Canadian venture capitalist and technology executive who mapped the machine intelligence startup world as an investor and later worked at OpenAI, Tesla and Neuralink. After graduating from Yale in 2008 and starting at IBM, she became a partner and founding member of Bloomberg Beta, where she created the 2014 Machine Intelligence Landscape from research on more than 2,500 startups. In 2015 she co-chaired the Machine Learning and the Market for Intelligence conference at the University of Toronto, advised OpenAI from 2016 and sat on its board from 2020 to 2023, and directed projects on Tesla's Autopilot team from 2017 to 2019. Shield AI added her to its board in 2023, and in May 2026 she testified in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI. She is director of operations and special projects at Neuralink.

Now at
Neuralink
Born
1986
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 2008

    Yale, then IBM in New York

    Born in Markham, Ontario, Canada, she graduates from Yale University in 2008 with degrees in economics and philosophy, and as goaltender on Yale's ice hockey team becomes the school's all-time leader in goals-against average. She then starts her career at IBM in New York, working in financial technologies in developing countries, especially Peru and Indonesia.

  2. 2014

    The Machine Intelligence Landscape

    In 2014, as a partner and founding member of Bloomberg Beta, she spends three months researching more than 2,500 startups and creates the Machine Intelligence Landscape. She concludes that enterprises, industries and humans are all being augmented by machine intelligence.

  3. 2015

    Co-chairing a Rotman AI conference

    The Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Toronto's Rotman School recruits her for its AI initiatives, and in 2015 it launches the annual conference Machine Learning and the Market for Intelligence with her as co-chair. Forbes also lists her on its 2015 30 Under 30 list of venture capitalists.

  4. 2016–2023

    OpenAI adviser and board member

    In 2016, she begins working with OpenAI as an informal advisor. She serves on OpenAI's board from 2020 until 2023, when she leaves it after Elon Musk starts the competing AI company xAI.

  5. 2017–2019

    Tesla Autopilot project director

    From 2017 to 2019, she is a project director for the Autopilot product and chip design team at Tesla.

  6. September 2023

    Joining the Shield AI board

    In September 2023, defense technology company Shield AI announces that she has joined its board of directors, while she is Neuralink's Director of Special Projects. Its CEO calls her one of the company's earliest investors, and she also sits on the boards of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute.

  7. May 2026

    Witness in Musk's OpenAI lawsuit

    In May 2026, she takes the witness stand in federal court in Oakland, California, in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman. She testifies that the executives debated OpenAI's corporate structure at length, including several for-profit options.

  8. As of October 2026

    Running operations at Neuralink

    She is director of operations and special projects at Elon Musk's Neuralink. By 2025, she has spent nearly eight years at the company.

Career

  1. NowNeuralinkDirector of operations and special projects
  2. From 2023Shield AIBoard member
  3. 2017–2019TeslaProject director
  4. 2016–2023OpenAIInformal advisor, Board member
  5. From 2014Bloomberg BetaPartner and founding member
  6. From 2008IBM
  7. Vector InstituteBoard member
  8. AmiiBoard member

Education

  1. 2008Yale UniversityDegrees in economics and philosophy

From the biography.

  1. 22 of 133 people shaping AI with a former OpenAI role now work at AnthropicIncludes Shivon Zilis. Our estimates of where OpenAI recruits came from and where 133 people with former OpenAI roles work now, including the companies and labs they founded.
  2. Direct Form 990 pay in the latest returns of 39 nonprofits with AI people on this site is highest at $2.1M at the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) (2024)Includes Shivon Zilis. IRS Form 990 compensation across 39 nonprofits with AI people on this site from 2012 to 2025: in the latest returns, Mozilla reports $6.1M including related-company pay (2024) and the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) leads direct nonprofit pay at $2.1M (2024).
  3. Among employers with 30+ full-time cases, OpenAI leads primary technical role H-1B pay at $310,000, and Amazon, Google and Microsoft file 57% of all casesIncludes OpenAI. Across 440,669 certified US H-1B filings from 44 employers (FY2020–FY2026), OpenAI leads primary technical role base pay at $310,000 and xAI leads overall base pay at $290,000.
  4. 23% of people shaping AI who left a university for a company later returned to a universityIncludes IBM. We estimate that 468 of the 2,011 people shaping AI who left a university for a company (23%) later returned to a university after a median of 5 years, and 163 of 829 (20%) made the reverse round trip.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Shivon Zilis yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Shivon Zilis - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. The Current State of Machine Intelligence 3blmedia.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Shivon Zilis | CNAS cnas.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. 'We will have raised Canada's game': U of T's Ajay Agrawal on the Creative Destruction Lab's past, present and future | University of Toronto utoronto.ca. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. OpenAI trial: Shivon Zilis says Musk offered Altman a Tesla board seat cnbc.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Shivon Zilis, mother of 4 Musk children, testifies at OpenAI trial nbcnews.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Shield AI welcomes Shivon Zilis to Board of Directors shield.ai. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Elon Musk's Longtime Girlfriend Shivon Zilis Says She's Been 'Let Go' in Dramatic Post thedailybeast.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. The top scientists and managers running Elon Musk's brain tech startup | Fortune fortune.com. Checked 20 October 2026.