ELON MUSK MAKES HIS SHOW AT THE VIVATECH SHOW

"You represent innovation and ambition" introduced the founder of VivaTech Maurice Lévy by listing all his activities. "Some think you're a genius, others less, what do you think?".

"I'm definitely not Evil, that's for sure," laughs Elon Musk. "You can see a halo above my head."

He also joked from the start: "It's crystal meth that motivates me. It gives me wings," he quips when Maurice Lévy asks him about his sources of entrepreneurial motivation.

Maurice Lévy's first question related to Twitter, the social network he acquired last year for $44 billion. Elon Musk's response set the tone for the interview, between provocation and responses already heard elsewhere.

"If I'm as smart as they say, why did I buy Twitter so expensive?" Elon Musk said, laughing at his own joke, in front of a conquered room.

Ready to clown around, he claimed to be "not a demon", but not an angel either. Before giving a simple explanation for its ability to carry out so many projects at the same time: ““Crystal meth makes you do great things. If you believe that Red Bull gives you wings”.

"Creating multi-planetary life" with SpaceX

On his goals for SpaceX, Elon Musk said he wanted to end up "creating multi-planetary life" and therefore beyond Earth. "We want to extend life beyond Earth, it's important, it's a defense measure.

We may be the only conscious beings in this galaxy, a fragile candle and we must do everything to maintain it. The Earth must remain safe for civilization, while extending the possibilities for life to other galaxies", explained Elon Musk, true to himself. Recalling having been interested in technology and science fiction since his youngest age .

"With all my SpaceX projects, I'm trying to finish a task that I started 24 years ago and I have to finish it because it will be positive for civilization," added the billionaire.

Starlink played a "crucial role" in the war in Ukraine according to Elon Musk

Maurice Lévy questions Elon Musk about his actions with his company Starlink during the war in Ukraine. The company notably offered communication methods in the country.

"The situation is very complex. Starlink played a crucial role because Russia destroyed all communication systems and Starlink is the only one that could survive," says Elon Musk. “Starlink is today the backbone of the Ukrainian communication system,” adds the entrepreneur.

Elon Musk was also moved by the lack of resolution of the ongoing war: "It is extremely sad that the Ukrainian and Russian youth are dying on the battlefields at this time."

Freedom of expression on Twitter

About Twitter, its owner claims to have decided to buy the social network to "preserve civilization from its corrosive aspect". Elon Musk defended his record at the head of the platform. "We are seeing historic highs in the use from Twitter every week," he said.

"On Twitter, we defend freedom of expression, but not the freedom to achieve," he said of his social network.

“We have removed 90% of bots and 95% of pornographic and child pornography content,” he explains, ensuring that he wants to make Twitter “a virtuous experience for users”.

On the leak of advertisers, Elon Musk assured that they "would come back". And to hammer: "I see the future in an optimistic way", acknowledging the "tremendous" work of the new boss of Twitter, Linda Yaccarino.

Regarding a regulation of Twitter, he said that "we should allow everything that is not prohibited by the legislative framework"

A break from artificial intelligence.

After offering to take a break from developing artificial intelligence, Elon Musk explained that he “didn't think anyone would be okay with taking a break.

I think there is a real danger with artificial intelligence and if we are not careful we could see very negative consequences. Even if the essential is positive. I am in favor of AI regulation, I strongly recommend it”.

Elon Musk explains why he wants AI regulation

“AI is the most disruptive technology. Humans are the smartest of creatures and for the first time there is going to be something smarter than humans. I believe we live in the most interesting time. Tesla develops robots, we called it T-800 (the name of the Terminator in the eponymous film)”, he added, hilarious.

"With AI, we've created an era of abundance, all services will be available on demand. That's the positive side of artificial intelligence: abundance," he said.

Tesla, a pioneering company

Questioned by Antoine Arnault (LVMH) on the valuation of Tesla, Elon Musk provided an interesting answer. It is not the number of cars sold that determines the company's valuation - around 2 million last year - but the prospects for autonomy. “Today an individual car is used on average 10 hours per week. If we had a robot taxi that would be used 50 or 60 hours a week, that would change everything”. A way of apprehending the rupture brought about by the shift from property value to use value.

The last question was about Neuralink.

“Neuralink is a long process. We will do our first implantation on a quadriplegic human this year, if all goes well, and he will be able to regain the functions he has lost, regain the use of his body, the signal will pass the lost connections. This is a first application, the first subject should be eligible this year. »

What sums up the state of mind of the terrible child of Tech: everything is possible.