The NAACP is demanding Memphis officials shut down Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer facility, claiming the world’s largest AI training center violates clean air laws and threatens the health of nearby black residents.
The civil rights organization sent a letter Thursday to the Shelby County Health Department and Memphis Light, Gas and Water officials, alleging xAI has operated up to 35 gas turbines without proper permits for over a year at its Colossus facility in South Memphis. The turbines power the supercomputer that trains Musk’s Grok AI chatbot, which they claim emits excessive hazardous pollutants.
“We are urging you again to ensure that xAI stops operating its unpermitted turbines in violations of clean air and open meeting act laws and to order xAI to pay penalties for operating in violation of the law,” the letter states. “The message that [Shelby County Health Department] and [Memphis Light, Gas and Water] have sent to the community is that billionaires matter more than the tax payers and residents who live there.”
Musk has said the data center — called “Colossus” — will be the first gigawatt-scale AI training facility in the world. It powers Grok, the chatbot xAI is positioning to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and others.
But the NAACP says the operation is “illegal,” citing emissions estimates of up to 2,000 tons of nitrogen oxide per year from the turbines and invoking the Clean Air Act’s “New Source Review” rule. They argue xAI’s decision to split the turbines into smaller groups is a deliberate strategy to “sidestep the law.”
Hellbound and Down 