The American organization Southern Environmental Law Center has accused entrepreneur Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI of air pollution due to the unregulated use of gas turbines to generate electricity in Tennessee, CNBC reported, citing the text of the organization’s letter.
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The letter cited by the TV channel states that xAI “has installed 18 gas turbines over the past few months” in the city of Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee. The company uses them to power its data center, CNBC reported.
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The Southern Environmental Law Center… sent a letter to the Shelby County (Tennessee) Health Department… and the US Environmental Protection Agency Regional Office… requesting an audit of xAI on turbine misuse and air pollution. , which they create,” the channel said in a statement.
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In the text of the letter, environmentalists said that the xAI center “consumes a huge amount of electricity.” According to the TV channel, the letter states that gas turbines installed on the territory of the xAI data center emit extremely harmful “nitrogen oxides” into the atmosphere, thereby exacerbating the smog problem in the area.
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“The main concern … is that there was very little transparency or opportunity for public participation in the xAI project,” Amanda Garcia, a senior attorney in the Tennessee office of the Southern Environmental Law Center, told.
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The letter also states that turbines owned by xAI are capable of emitting 130 tons of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere per year, and their capacity can provide electricity to about 50 thousand homes.
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In July, Musk said he would discuss with Tesla’s board a $5 billion investment in his artificial intelligence company xAI. xAI is developing Grok artificial intelligence, unveiled in November 2023.
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The service is available to Premium+ subscribers of social network X in the US, UK and European countries. In March, xAI open-sourced Grok.
