(Paris) Feared and courted, Elon Musk, the eccentric and controversial boss of Tesla and SpaceX, met Emmanuel Macron on Friday in Paris to talk about artificial intelligence and electric cars, before giving a lecture in front of 4,000 technology enthusiasts.
Arrived in Tesla at the Elysee Palace, the billionaire emerged from the interview with the French president without making any statements, noted an AFP journalist.
On the menu of their discussions: artificial intelligence (AI), social networks, regulation, Emmanuel Macron had listed on Wednesday in the aisles of VivaTech, the major European technology fair. “I will also talk to him about cars, batteries, this sector, to praise the attractiveness of France and Europe”.
He also hopes to convince the American, whom he has already met twice in recent months, to set up a Tesla factory in France.
At the Choose France summit in mid-May in Versailles, the billionaire had promised that the electric car manufacturer would make “significant investments in France”.
Nothing has come, and his choice could be Spain, in competition with France, almost four years after choosing Berlin for the first Tesla factory in Europe.
The boss of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, also meets Elon Musk, with whom he shares the head of the annual ranking of the world’s richest of Forbes magazine.
“I have lunch with him, I know him of course. I think he’s an exceptional entrepreneur, “he said Thursday at the microphone of the Quotidien program.
Before his visit to France, Mr. Musk traveled to Rome on Thursday to meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, where they notably discussed some “crucial topics” such as the “risks of AI” and the “birth rate”. , she tweeted.
The boss of Tesla, SpaceX and majority shareholder of Twitter becomes a political force across the Atlantic and the darling of conservatives for his fight against censorship and for having restored the account of ex-President Donald Trump.
His extreme political positions should not deter visitors to VivaTech from rushing to listen to him. He will be questioned about his choices, in the midst of a showdown with the EU over the regulation of Twitter. Antoine Arnault, LVMH’s image director, will go on stage to ask him a few questions, the group’s communication said on Friday.
Elon Musk is threatened by both Europe and France for his refusal to further curb disinformation and hate on Twitter.
It is true that when he bought the social network at the end of 2022, he had tweeted: “The bird is free” and then immediately dismissed half of the employees, including a good part of the moderators.
At the end of 2022, European Commissioner Thierry Breton ordered it, under penalty of a fine of 6% of its turnover, to further control content, in the name of the DSA (Digital Services Act) on the regulation of major platforms. , which will apply in the coming months.
At the end of May, Elon Musk further upset Europeans by removing Twitter from the EU’s code of good practice against disinformation. This prompted French Digital Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to threaten to “ban” Twitter. A half-hour meeting is scheduled between the two Friday afternoons.
The billionaire could also talk about his vision of artificial intelligence, he who, although co-founder of OpenAI (creator of chatGPT) which he has since left, has called for a suspension of research in this field, which he considers a threat to humanity. However, he then founded his own AI company.
Scheduled for 4 p.m., her speech at VivaTech risks overshadowing the news of the show a little, where Friday, at the same time, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will go accompanied by four ministers (Education, Research, Equality Men, Digital) to promote gender equality in tech and digital.
“Musk is the second big star with Macron and he’s going to do job announcements it seems,” a unicorn executive told VivaTech on condition of anonymity on Friday.
“I think that ten years ago, Elon Musk would not have passed through Paris”, welcomed the French Minister of Industry Roland Lescure, Thursday on France Inter.
“Today, France is more attractive than ever, but it is in extremely strong competition with other countries. We pull out all the stops to attract the best, obviously Elon Musk,” he added.
