Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Twitter and Tesla, was the guest, Friday, June 16, of the VivaTech show in Paris. In front of 3,600 fans and for two hours, at the Dôme de Paris, the controversial billionaire stuck to his image as an unapologetic visionary, distilling his advice for success to fascinated start-up leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Despite a meeting with Emmanuel Macron at midday, he did not say a word about the possible installation of a Tesla factory in France. He had however promised in May, at the Choose France show, that the electric car manufacturer would make “significant investments” in the country. “Let’s work together”, nevertheless tweeted the French president after their meeting.
Elon Musk’s only announcement at this conference: he said he wanted to provide, from 2023, a human being with neural implants from his company Neuralink, which has just obtained authorization to carry out tests in the United States. “Later this year, we will do our first human chip implant, for someone who has a form of tetraplegia,” he said. The purpose of these brain chips is to make brains and computers communicate directly, to help people who are paralyzed or suffering from neurological diseases.
During his show, in front of an overheated room, he also defended a Twitter free of all censorship and considered that artificial intelligence risked triggering an “apocalypse” for humanity. Positions that this libertarian has already repeated many times. “If we’re hit by an AI-triggered apocalypse, I think I’d still like to be alive then,” he smiled.
“I am not the devil”
However, he did not give up on the bottom. To the boss of Orange, Christel Heydemann, who challenged him on the reasons why Twitter had just left the code of good conduct of the European Union on disinformation, Elon Musk replied: if “someone who says something something you don’t like” is blocked, “it’s only a matter of time before censorship turns against you”.
Hiding behind his conception of freedom of expression, however, he eventually admitted that “if you are harassed [on the social network], it is a bad experience”. In passing, he admitted to having paid too much for Twitter – 44 billion dollars. “If I’m so smart, why did I pay so much for it?” “, he quipped. “I’m not the devil,” he also said with a sardonic laugh to Maurice Lévy, co-founder of VivaTech, who hosted this conference.
Previously, he had lunch with the boss of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, with whom he disputes the head of the annual ranking of the biggest fortunes in the world of Forbes magazine. Elon Musk’s show in France is not over: he gave an interview to France 2, which will be broadcast Monday evening after the 8 p.m. television news.
Earlier, Mr. Musk met Thursday in Rome with the head of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni. They then brought up some “crucial topics” like “AI risks” and “natality,” she tweeted. The American boss, with extreme political positions, has become the darling of conservatives across the Atlantic for his fight against censorship and for having restored the account of ex-President Donald Trump.
