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.
Residents said Colossus is straining the local grid, increasing the risk of blackouts. Perhaps most alarmingly, the facility's methane gas turbines — many of which are running without the proper permits or air pollution controls, per the SELC — have increased smog in Memphis by up to 60%, spewing pollutants associated with respiratory and cardiovascular disease and cancer.
"Imagine the outcry if these facilities had been placed next to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital — no one would allow it," Austin Dalgo, an academic primary care physician in South Memphis who works at several clinics within 15 miles of the data center, told Time magazine.
"Instead, they were placed in the backyard of a historically Black, underserved neighborhood, reinforcing a long legacy of environmental racism in Memphis — and our country."
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In April, a public hearing drew hundreds of residents who protested xAI's presence in their community. While the Shelby County Health Department assured the public it was following protocol, according to WREG, many found this explanation insufficient.
"Why can't we breathe at home? Y'all get to breathe at home," one resident asks.
"It will be years of public officials denying what has happened while we watch our elders die and our children suffer. That's Memphis's future if we don't stop xAI," another says.
The Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce has tried to convince residents that xAI tax revenue will support infrastructure improvements, per Time. However, public outcry is ongoing. To Boxtown residents protesting xAI's presence, the company's ability to operate as it has been — turning their community into a "sacrifice zone" — is a continuation of unjust policies.
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$200 or more 💰 "It's no coincidence that if you are African American in this country, you're 75% more likely to live near a toxic hazardous waste facility," state Rep. Justin J. Pearson said in a recent interview, per the Lookout.
"It's no accident that in this community, we're four times more likely to have cancer in our bodies. It's no accident that in this community, there are over 17 Toxics Release Inventory facilities surrounding us — now 18 with Elon Musk's xAI plant," Pearson said.
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