Elon Musk’s Gigantic Supercomputer is Poisoning the Air of Black Residents in a Poor Neighborhood in Memphis

Elon Musk’s pet AI chatbot, Grok comes at a high price: the health of those unfortunate souls who live next to the data center that makes Grok possible.

Located in the Memphis neighborhood of Boxtown, Tennessee, xAI’s “Colossus supercomputer” data center has been mired in controversy ever since its inception, pumping noxious gasses into the air and drying out local faucets. For Musk, it’s the key piece of infrastructure behind AI ambitions — the facility keeping him in the AI race with other tech magnates like Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg.

For the predominantly black residents of Boxtown, however, Colossus is turning their neighborhood into a putrid nightmare.

Boxtown is a historically and predominantly African American neighborhood in South Memphis, Tennessee, founded by formerly enslaved people shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863

Speaking to The Times, 81-year-old Boxtown resident Willie Joe Stafford blamed the mucus he regularly hacks up is the result of Colossus’ pollution. “The people who live round here are blacks,” he said. “So they think they can do what they want.”

Another resident, Sarah Gladney, explained that xAI has changed the character of the neighborhood, which wasn’t exactly pretty before.

“Prior to xAI, we were dealing with more of a waste smell. Like poop. This is more like a chemical-type smell,” she explained. At 71, Gladney told the publication she hardly ever opens her windows for fresh air, and no longer goes on her daily walks.

“We have to put our lungs up in exchange for profit,” 66-year-old Boxtown resident Batsell Booker told The Times. His daughter, Booker said, is recovering from cancer — a disease Boxtown has no shortage of. [MORE]