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Elon Musk is under fire following reports that his artificial intelligence business xAI has been using 'illegal' generators at its Memphis facility to keep up with growing power demands.
The tech world is currently dominated by an AI race, as almost all of the largest companies in the industry are fighting tooth and nail to innovate and advance their own software enough to emerge victorious.
OpenAI's Sam Altman once envisioned the creation of his company as akin to the Manhattan Project, and some might speculate that he was right on two fronts.
Not only has artificial intelligence completely changed the tech landscape in the last three years, and threatens world-altering improvements within the next decade, but it's environmental impact is also harming our planet due to the immense power that AI demands for even the simplest of queries.
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Some have revealed their embarrassment at using services like ChatGPT after its revealed how much the technology contributes to climate change and global warning, yet the companies driving artificial intelligence continue to push the limits of what the software can sustain.
The most recent culprit of this is the richest man in the world himself, as Elon Musk has been accused of using 'illegal' generators to power an xAI facility in Memphis, Tennessee, as reported by The Guardian.
KeShaun Pearson, director of Memphis Community Against Pollution, revealed when speaking to the Shelby county board of commissioners:
"I'm here today because we've learned that xAI is using 35 methane gas burning turbines. They have submitted a permit to our Shelby county health department for 15, yet they are using double that amount with no permit."
It is alleged that the gas turbines used to power the xAI facility produce roughly 420MW of electricity, which is enough to power an entire city, yet it's being used to solely support xAI's software.
Not only were the generators illegally obtained outside of the assigned permit, but they are also producing dangerous levels of air pollution within the nearby community at a rate that legal groups claim exceeds the Clean Air Act.
xAI's Memphis facility is the brain and heart of its operations, and is where all of the power to keep Musk's AI chatbot 'Grok' is found. Demand for Grok has dramatically increased since it was introduced to X, which Musk also owns, as users have been able to generate images without any subscription, ask it for medical advice, and even engage in bizarre tools like an '18+ sexy mode'.
It seems like the demand for power will only increase in the near future too, as the recent purchase of X by xAI suggests that the artificial intelligence company plans to use any and all data processed through the social media platform to train its models.
Additionally, Musk has also revealed his intention to double the size of the Memphis facility, which already stretches roughly 13 football fields, which would in turn require far more power. Whether this is legally obtained or not, it will still have a dramatic environmental impact on both the nearby Shelby residents and the world as a whole.
Pearson has linked the pollution caused by xAI's facility to the deaths of two of his family members, as he allegedly claims that their deaths were a direct consequence of living close to the industrial zone.
"Nobody else should be burying their families because these rogue, rich, white, racist people continue to build projects that are suffocating us," argued Pearson, adding that "this is all preventable."
