{"id":228370,"date":"2026-03-26T12:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T16:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/26\/elon-musk-brought-the-worlds-biggest-supercomputer-to-memphis-residents-say-theyre-choking-on-its-pollution\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T20:30:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T00:30:45","slug":"elon-musk-brought-the-worlds-biggest-supercomputer-to-memphis-residents-say-theyre-choking-on-its-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/26\/elon-musk-brought-the-worlds-biggest-supercomputer-to-memphis-residents-say-theyre-choking-on-its-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk brought \u2018the world\u2019s biggest supercomputer\u2019 to Memphis. Residents say they\u2019re choking on its pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elon Musk brought \u2018the world\u2019s biggest supercomputer\u2019 to Memphis. Residents say they\u2019re choking on its pollution<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.aol.com\/news\/elon-musk-brought-world-biggest-123050956.html?guccounteru003d1<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-03-26 12:44:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.aol.com<\/a><\/p>\n

An aerial image of xAI’s data center in southwest Memphis. Local residents are protesting against the facility’s use of gas-powered turbines. – Courtesy Steve Jones Flight by Southwings for the Southern Environmental Law Center<\/p>\n

Last summer, an abandoned factory in southwest Memphis got a new life courtesy of the world\u2019s richest man. Elon Musk\u2019s artificial intelligence company xAI moved in to transform this unprepossessing building into the \u201cworld\u2019s largest supercomputer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musk named it Colossus and said it was the \u201cmost powerful AI training system in the world.\u201d It was sold locally as a source of jobs, tax dollars and a key addition to the \u201cDigital Delta\u201d \u2014 the move to make Memphis a hotspot for advanced technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the beginning,\u201d xAI said on its website; the company already has plans for a second facility in the city.<\/p>\n

But for some residents in nearby Boxtown, a majority Black, economically-disadvantaged community that has long endured industrial pollution, xAI\u2019s facility represents yet another threat to their health.<\/p>\n

AI is immensely power-hungry, and Musk\u2019s company installed dozens of gas-powered turbines, known to produce a cocktail of toxic pollutants. The company currently has no air permits, appearing to rely on a loophole for temporary turbines \u2014 but environmental groups say the exemption does not apply, and residents are angry.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur health was never considered, the safety of our communities was never, ever considered,\u201d said Sarah Gladney, who lives 3 miles from the facility and suffers from a lung condition.<\/p>\n

xAI did not respond to CNN\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n

This part of Memphis, home to 17 other polluting facilities \u2014 including an oil refinery, steel plant and gas-fired power plant \u2014 is used to fighting for clean air.<\/p>\n

This time, however, not only are they up against the world\u2019s richest man, who happens to be one of President Donald Trump\u2019s closest advisors, but it\u2019s happening as the Trump administration…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elon Musk brought \u2018the world\u2019s biggest supercomputer\u2019 to Memphis. Residents say they\u2019re choking on its…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":228371,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/en\/aol_cnn_articles_945\/c18f793b88176c0a778e8eeef17e20de","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-228370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228372,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228370\/revisions\/228372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}