ELON MUSK’S “COLOSSUS,” a $6 billion supercomputer utilized to power the tech mogul’s various AI projects, has fully materialized at a formerly abandoned facility in southwest Memphis, Tennessee. Preservationists and Memphis residents are protesting its existence, claiming that the pollutants it emits are poisoning the environment and harming citizens who live in it. One resident told NBC News that she started smelling the factory’s fumes from her residence two miles away soon after the system was built.
Anything named Colossus probably requires an enormous amount of energy to function — and this beast is no different. The supercomputer is powered, in great part, by gas turbines that emit nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde, among other air ozone-depleting pollutants. Musk’s company has promised not to exceed the allowed limit of contaminants, but that’s hard to believe.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has been criticized over the past year or so, according to several sources, by climate groups for struggling to match xAI’s energy demands at the expense of taxpayers to fund almost $1 million worth of power upgrades.
Another thing residents are rightfully pissed about is being seemingly kept in the dark during the building of Colossus. It appears the secret may have been much easier to keep quiet, considering the AI computer is housed in the predominantly Black, working-class community of Boxtown. Shelby County, where Boxtown is located in South Memphis, has already received an “F” grade for its poor air quality, according to the American Lung Association. Musk is apparently skirting environmental protections in an already vulnerable community.
