Free-market enthusiasts and mutual admirers Elon Musk and Javier Milei, Argentina's new president, will headline next week's Milken Institute Global Conference, the annual Beverly Hills confab that tackles the world's most pressing problems with a dash of celebrity and Hollywood.

The Beverly Hilton event draws several thousand people from around the world and will kick off with remarks Monday by International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

Also packed into a busy program will be Milei, a libertarian populist elected in November amid soaring inflation in his country, who will speak at lunch. Musk will close out the day talking with Michael Milken, founder of the conference and its sponsor, Santa Monica's Milken Institute think tank.

The theme of this 27th annual gathering is "Shaping a Shared Future," a reference to finding common ground amid the complex issues that have arisen in the post-pandemic world, including war, the emergence of artificial intelligence and the need to create a sustainable economy amid climate change — employing the tools of capitalism. All public panels can be watched on the institute's website.

"The world is in transition again," said economist Kevin Klowden, the institute's executive director of MI Finance. "And what you're seeing in the U.S. right now is a huge amount of dissatisfaction. There's this very real sense that people would like to go back to the way it was prior to the pandemic, but it's not."

The conference headliners — who have been described as having a bromance, with Musk hosting Milei at Tesla headquarters in April — highlight some of the challenges and possibilities of finding common ground.

Musk has warned artificial intelligence could lead to the destruction of civilization without proper safeguards, and this year sued industry leader OpenAi, which he had co-founded when it was a nonprofit before leaving in 2018. He accused it of violating its original charter in search of profits.

OpenAi Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap will be a featured interview Monday on one of several conference panels about artificial intelligence.

The whiskered Milei is a self-described anarcho-capitalist who has vowed to shut down Argentina's central bank. He will take the stage just hours after Georgieva of the IMF, a global institution that is often the target of populists yet is working with his administration to help dig Argentina out of its economic hole.

Among the leading themes is sustainability. John Podesta, President Biden's senior advisor on international climate policy, will discuss the issue with Exxon Mobile chairman and chief executive Darren Woods.

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