Elon Musk continues building his French connections. Yesterday, he had lunch with LVMH Chair Bernard Arnault. Earlier in the day, the CEO of SpaceX, Twitter and Tesla met with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss building an EV factory in France.

Two days before that, Musk met with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni to discuss artificial intelligence, birth rates, European market rules and innovation.

Musk and Arnault lunched at Cheval Blanc, the luxury hotel run by the French luxury conglomerate, whose business interests include perfume and cosmetics brands such as Guerlain, Givenchy and Parfums Christian Dior. We don’t know what was on the menu, but rest assured, it was a gourmet spread: Arnault is worth $202 billion, making him the world’s second-richest man, behind only Musk, who is worth $233 billion, according to Bloomberg’s billionaire index.

The dynamic duo were joined by Maye Musk, Elon's mother, as well as Arnault’s sons, Alexandre and Antoine.

Following lunch, Musk was at the LVMH VivaTech conference, where Antoine Musk asked him if the advertising industry was threatened by artificial intelligence.

“AI is definitely going to be a massive disruptive force and probably the most disruptive tech ever,” insisted Musk.

LVMH is a founding partner of VivaTech. During the four-day event, which concludes today, LVMH showcased its tech innovations. Since its inception in 2016, VivaTech has become the biggest startup and tech event in Europe. This year  18 LVMH Maisons present 25 innovations in two dedicated spaces: The Dream Box & The LVMH Court.

On Thursday, Iris Decamps, head of products, collections and innovations at Veuve Clicquot, detailed some of the packaging innovations introduced by the champagne house, which has generalized the use of hemp in all its packaging. It took two years of R&D for Veuve Clicquot to develop its new packaging, made from 50% hemp and 50% recycled paper.

“This transition plays a key role in helping the Maison achieve its target of a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. Hemp is the plant of the future,” said Decamps. “We source it locally in Champagne, just 120km from our cellars. It has rigid fibers that not only promote soil regeneration but also make the packaging five times easier to recycle than cardboard. Hemp is also a carbon sink: one hectare of hemp absorbs four times more carbon than a hectare of forest.”

At VivaTech, Make Up For Ever displays its Aqua Resist range of waterproof eye  makeup. Able to resist even the most extreme conditions, these products have been designed for synchronized swimming competitors.

Besides all the high-tech offerings for adults, VivaTech has something for the kids, too: today, Make Up For Ever is offering face painting at the conference.