AI-Powered War Is Coming. This Fight Over a Data Center Just Made That Case

Source Domain: www.cnet.com

If a federal court decides to shutter a data center in Memphis, Tennessee, it “directly threatens” the US government’s ability to protect our national security, according to the Trump administration’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer.

The case began in April when the NAACP filed a class action lawsuit against xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company. The complaint alleges that xAI’s Colossus 2 data center violates the Clean Air Act. The data center includes a power plant in Mississippi with 27 gas turbines. Those turbines, which the nation’s oldest civil rights organization says are operating without the necessary federal permits, can produce significant pollution, which poses serious health risks for nearby Black communities in Tennessee and Mississippi.

The US government filed a motion on June 15, encouraging the court to dismiss the case. The Memphis data center powers xAI’s ability to provide AI to its customers, one of which the US government, Cameron Stanley, the Department of Defense’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, wrote in the filing.

xAI’s data center operation in Memphis, Tennessee.

Steve Jones/Southern Environmental Law Center

The US government uses a specifically created, government version of Grok, called Grok Gov Model. That AI tech is integrated into the Maven Smart System, an AI-powered military system created by mega-defense contractor Palantir and used by the US and NATO. The Maven system is used in “targeting, intelligence, readiness and recruitment,” Stanley wrote.

While the defense department has struck deals with eight major AI companies, Grok is one of three AI enterprise providers that are “equipped to sustain mission-critical operations” for secret and top secret missions. Grok has features that other frontier AI models do not, Stanley wrote. For this reason, the government says, Grok AI is essential for national security.

Stanley cited Grok’s prowess in Operation Epic Fury, the US-Israeli bombing campaign…

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