A number of environmental teams in Memphis, Tenn. mentioned a just lately opened information heart operated by Elon Musk’s xAI is contributing to town’s already dire smog drawback. The teams claimed that xAI’s use of gasoline generators, which energy the supercomputing facility, lacks correct permits and can solely irritate town’s poor air high quality. Such points aren’t out of the peculiar for Musk, whose different corporations have beforehand confronted environmental scrutiny.
Musk, who’s CEO of SpaceX, Tesla (TSLA) and The Boring Firm, established xAI final 12 months and raised $6 billion for the startup in Could. Its major product so far is Grok, a chatbot that claims to have the ability to categorical extra humor and fewer political correctness than rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. To develop and prepare next-generation Grok fashions, Musk in June introduced plans to open a knowledge heart in a former manufacturing facility in Memphis. Housing 100,000 of Nvidia (NVDA)’s H100 graphics processing models (GPUs), xAI’s information heart can accommodate 50 megawatts of energy from the municipal utility Memphis Gentle, Gasoline and
The ability at the moment generates energy utilizing gasoline combustion generators. xAI has put in not less than 18 gasoline generators however did not acquire the required air permits for them, in response to a letter despatched this week by the Southern Environmental Regulation Heart (SELC) on behalf of 4 local weather teams to the Shelby County Well being Division, which counts Memphis amongst its cities.
“South Memphis has been overburdened by industrial air pollution for many years, and turning a blind eye to unpermitted gasoline generators on the xAI facility is simply going to proceed the lengthy legacy of environmental injustice in these predominantly Black communities,” mentioned Amanda Garcia, an legal professional for SELC, in a press release shared with Observer. “We’re urging well being officers to research these generators and take obligatory motion as a way to assist Memphians breathe simpler.”
SELC, which claims that xAI’s generators don’t meet allow exemption standards, famous that the startup’s generators have the capability to emit 130 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx). This is able to make them the ninth largest supply of NOx, a pollutant that contributes to smog, in Shelby County. The area already has a longstanding smog problem and was graded “F” by the American Lung Affiliation for its air high quality. “In different phrases, Memphis residents at the moment breathe unhealthy air, and the issue is worsening,” mentioned the group’s letter.
The group has not but obtained a response from the well being division, in response to SELC. xAI didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Elon Musk’s corporations have a historical past with environmental teams
This isn’t the primary time one in every of Musk’s initiatives has confronted environmental pushback. The Boring Firm, his tunneling enterprise, has obtained quite a few violations linked to its growth websites in Bastrop County, Texas. Citations from the Texas Fee on Environmental High quality (TCEQ) declare the corporate has failed to attenuate its discharge of pollution in truck washout
SpaceX has additionally obtained violations from the TCEQ concerning pollution in discharged wastewater launched close to Boca Chica, Texas, the place its Starbase growth heart is situated. And earlier this 12 months, Tesla was sued by a local weather nonprofit for allegedly emitting pollution since 2021 by its paint store operations in Fremont, Calif.
In terms of the regarding environmental impacts of A.I. information facilities, xAI isn’t alone. Greenhouse gasoline emissions have soared as Huge Tech races to develop the services powering their fashions, that are anticipated to devour huge quantities of power to maintain up with demand. Information facilities, which at the moment devour 1 p.c to 2 p.c of worldwide energy, may see this determine improve to three p.c to 4 p.c by the tip of the last decade and greater than double their carbon dioxide emissions throughout that point, in response to Goldman Sachs researchers. Google (GOOGL)’s greenhouse gasoline emissions, for instance, rose 48 p.c between 2019 and 2023, whereas Microsoft (MSFT)’s have soared by 29 p.c since 2020.
