xAI Allegedly Operates Unpermitted Methane Turbines in Memphis to Power Supercomputer Colossus to Train Grok
June 5, 2024
The xAI "Colossus" supercomputer facility in South Memphis allegedly runs 33 methane-powered turbines, despite a permit for only 15. The turbines reportedly power AI training for Grok. The facility's massive energy use and alleged unpermitted turbines reportedly produce extreme nitrogen oxide and formaldehyde emissions, adding toxic smog to a predominantly Black neighborhood already burdened by pollution and health risks.
- Alleged deployer
- xai
- Alleged developer
- xai
- Alleged harmed parties
- south-memphis-community, residents-with-pre-existing-health-conditions, residents-living-in-the-vicinity-of-the-colossus-supercomputer, predominantly-black-communities, general-public-of-memphis
Source
Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/1144
Data source
Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).
When citing the database as a whole, please use:
McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.
Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide
We use weekly snapshots of the AIID for stable reference. For the official suggested citation of a specific incident, use the “Cite this incident” link on each incident page.