Elon Musk’s ambitions to overtake rivals in the artificial intelligence race have taken his company, xAI, to a predominantly Black community in Memphis, Tennessee. Residents are fighting back after noticing their polluted area has become “even more noxious” since xAI’s arrival, according to The Week.
In 2024, Musk turned his eyes to Boxtown to build a facility for his supercomputer, Colossus. After receiving approval from Memphis authorities, he transformed a former appliance factory into an AI data center. While some have welcomed the contribution to the area’s economy, residents in Boxtown’s 90% Black working-class neighborhood have noticed alarming effects.
AI data centers require massive amounts of energy to operate, and Musk’s xAI site in Boxtown is no exception. The Southern Environmental Law Center told the Tennessee Lookout it consumes enough electricity to power around 100,000 homes…