In a scene that could have come straight from a particularly avant-garde French film, Elon Musk found himself in Paris seated across from French President Emmanuel Macron, ostensibly to solve all things artificial intelligence related, while outside, hundreds of protesters offered their unsolicited notes on capitalism, tech billionaires and the general state of the world.
The Tesla and SpaceX magnate visited the City of Light this week for the Choose France Summit, an event that tries very hard to make corporate investment sound romantic. Musk and Macron reportedly chatted about artificial intelligence regulation, Europe’s role in technological innovation and presumably ways not to accidentally invent Skynet. Macron even described the meeting as “very good and very productive,” which in diplomatic terms is just a hair below “we will build statues in your honor.”
But while Musk was enjoying the five-star Republican Guard treatment complete with red carpets and polite security, outside the palace gates things were decidedly less festive. Protests erupted in multiple French cities targeting not just Musk’s visit but the broader capitalist undertones of the summit. In true French fashion, demonstrators made it a multi-course affair, combining labor complaints, tech skepticism and a healthy serving of anti-billionaire sentiment. Tear gas made a brief cameo, as it tends to do in these moments of national introspection.
Musk, a man who once changed Twitter’s name on a whim, remained characteristically unbothered. He described France as “a beautiful country” and waxed poetic about business opportunities, proving once again that nothing dampens billionaire optimism like the scent of burning protest banners drifting up the Champs-Élysées.
Macron, meanwhile, is clearly betting on deep-pocketed investors like Musk to help France cement its place at the AI table, ideally one with fewer riots and more robot ethics committees. Whether France becomes a tech powerhouse or simply a very stylish cautionary tale remains to be seen.
Either way, the croissants will probably survive.