Elon Musk welcomes 12th child

Elon Musk has welcomed baby no. 12—his third child with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis.

The business tycoon confirmed the news to entertainment portal Page Six as he dismissed reports that he welcomed another bundle of joy "in secret."

"As for 'secretly fathered,' this is also false," he said. "All our friends and family know. Failure to issue a press release, which would be bizarre, does not mean 'secret.'"

The confirmation came a few days after Bloomberg released a report on Musk's "obsession" with birth rates.

In response to the article, he told Page Six that many countries "are already well below replacement rate, and the trend is that almost all will be. This is simply a fact, not a 'debunked theory.'"

"2.1 kids is replacement rate, and obviously the world as a whole will soon drop below that point," he pointed out as he forwared a link to statistics on fertility rates from the World Bank Group to the publication.

This is his third baby with Zilis, who works for his brain implant firm as director of special projects. They previously welcomed twins Strider and Azure in November 2021. The name and sex of their newborn have yet to be revealed.

Aside from Zilis, Musk also has three kids with pop singer Grimes.

He has five children with his ex-wife Justine Musk: twins Griffin and Vivian as well as triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian. Their eldest child, Nevada, died of sudden infant death syndrome when he was just 10 weeks old.