The backlash against AI data centres has reached a new stage: a class-action lawsuit. Residents of Mississippi have sued Elon Musk’s xAI and SpaceX, claiming a gas-fired power plant that feeds nearby data centres blasts “omnipresent and inescapable” noise that has eroded their health and home values.
The case, made public in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi on Tuesday, was brought by three residents on behalf of a class they estimate at more than 10,000 people. It accuses the companies of negligence and of creating a public nuisance through round-the-clock noise and vibrations.
“The AI boom is wreaking havoc on communities across the United States,” the complaint says. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for emotional distress and lost property value, plus a share of the profits the plant has helped generate.
A $20bn plant, and a state line
xAI poured more than $20bn into building the plant in Southaven, with the backing of Mississippi’s governor, Tate Reeves. Its gas turbines power data centres in and around the town, just across the state line from Memphis, where xAI’s Colossus supercomputer already runs a fleet of methane turbines that has drawn its own pollution complaints.
