GoKawiilIn the latest example of corporations existing outside of the law, SpaceX (who is for some reason the controlling entity of xAI now) announced they'll be removing the illegal, unpermitted gas turbines they've been running at their Memphis Colossus data center... by July 2027. xAI gets to flout economic planning and restrictions that any normal group would have to follow, all for the sake of being able to get another fuckass data center built in record time. In the meantime, real people will face declining health and increased pollution. This is not a new story, but it's worth telling anyway.
xAI, SpaceX, and the Race for AI Buildout
For those blissfully unaware, xAI is the subsidiary of SpaceX (previously under X, which itself was previously Twitter) that is in charge of AI development and data centers for the xAI series of products. This includes Grok, which has thus far been involved in controversies including but not limited to:
Spreading antisemitic slurs and conspiracies while calling itself "Mecha-Hitler"
Creating widespread non-consensual nude images of primarily women and children
Acting as a mouthpiece for Elon's racist belief in South African white genocide
Generally being used by chuds to try and back up or reject things they don't like ("Grok, is this true?")
Beyond that, xAI has also been happy to partner with the federal government for the use of its models across agencies including the Department of Defense (come on, enough with this Department of War shit). Now with a product like that, you might be surprised to learn that some people aren't jazzed about its continuing development and growth, especially when it spews smog in their backyard. xAI continues to barge forward however; decriers be damned in the name of "progress".
The AI models keep expanding, requiring more memory and cores for what "improvements" there are. So the name of the game right now is data centers; acres and acres of computer racks, loaded with the best money hardware can buy (and some less so, given the current supply crunch). These racks are needed to keep up with the ballooning requirements of each new "frontier" (a buzzword label with no actual inclination of performance of improvement) model developed, which everyone bought into the AI hype will immediately hop to because it's all novelty over utility.
Colossus: A Short History
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