Elon Musk Accused of Choking Community With Smog From Gas-Powered AI Datacenter

That's awful.

Smog Hog

Elon Musk is in trouble with Memphis, Tennessee locals because his AI datacenter has been accused of polluting the air with unauthorized gas-burning, electricity-producing turbines, according to CNBC.

Shelby County, where Memphis is located, already has abysmal air quality issues. Now, local health and environmental activists have sent a letter to health officials about the gas turbines powering Musk's startup xAI, which is busy training AI models with scores of Nvidia chips.

"Against this background of untenable levels of smog, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence supercomputer project, xAI, recently sprung up in southwest Memphis," reads the letter. "This plant requires an enormous amount of electricity."

In the letter, local advocates say that Musk's startup may not have the required air permits to operate the gas turbines and call for "enforcement action" if the datacenter is found to be illegally operating these gas combustion machines.

Needless to say, CNBC's request for comment from xAI about the gas turbines didn't solicit a response — which, let's face it, seems to be pretty typical for how Musk has responded to critics and the larger public.

Air Apparent

Installing and operating gas turbines without a permit would be par the course for Musk, whose tendency is to bulldoze people standing in his way.

For example, Musk's SpaceX has polluted and destroyed the fragile wetlands environment around its launch site in Texas. SpaceX has also used trickery to run roughshod over federal wildlife officials.

But Musk isn't the only person in the tech industry who ignores or just pays lip service to the public's concerns.

Getting back to AI datacenters, which are hugely expensive to run, Microsoft facilities have gobbled up enormous amounts of electricity and water from surrounding communities like in Arizona and Iowa, both places stricken with drought issues.

And besides Microsoft, AI datacenters writ large are testing the limits of our power grid.

The problem with AI datacenters is that they exemplify the late capitalist concept of privatizing profits and socializing losses because regular folks will have to pay for the damage these datacenters are doing to our communities — whether through their health or pocketbooks.

More on AI datacenters: Microsoft's Emissions and Water Use Shoot Up as It Goes All in on AI Datacenters