3 ms·

xAI accused of pollution over Memphis supercomputer

57 points by troupo 1y ago

drexlspivey 1y ago
I was under the impression that they specifically picked this location because there is a big power plant nearby which they can hook into. Why are they building their own turbines?
- nikanj 1y ago
  Power plant needs to follow environmental reqs which leads to higher energy cost. Burning fuel on-site with no emissions control is cheaper
  - SR2Z 1y ago
    Sure, but the difference between burning propane without a filter and coal with a filter is probably not that large. Propane is a clean-burning fuel.
    - Craighead 1y ago
      [dead]
James_K 1y ago
Every year, it becomes more and more apparent that the philosophy of tech companies is to break or avoid the law and hope you're too big for the government to do something about it.
- Zigurd 1y ago
  As with any life hack, if you make life hacks your whole personality, you turn into a scumbag. Trust me, bro about those robo taxis. They're safe we tested them.
tomhow 1y ago
Url changed from https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/12/xai-data-center/ https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/12/xai-data-center/ which points to this.
- cheschire 1y ago
  The Politico article linked at the top of the same post has far more detail.
  - tomhow 1y ago
    Ok thanks, changed.
blibble 1y ago
the real weakness of the "AI industry" seems to be the massive increase in CO2 emissions required if I was trying to kill it politically that's exactly what I'd focus on
- unstablediffusi 1y ago
  [dead]
- blooalien 1y ago
  > the real weakness of the "AI industry" seems to be the massive increase in CO2 emissions required > if I was trying to kill it politically that's exactly what I'd focus on Except that approximately all of one entire political party (who happen to be currently "in charge" of things) believe that CO2 is good for plants, therefore it's good always for everything and we should put more of it into the atmosphere as quickly as possible, especially if it further enriches outdated obsolete greedy pollution-loving science-hating overlords. Anyone who disagrees is a witch or a terrorist.
ricardobeat 1y ago
I’m sure they are conveniently skirting some regulations in the name of speed, and should not be allowed to do so, but is there hard data on pollution levels increasing around the area? Haven’t seen it in any of these reports, instead there are FLIR videos of “pollution” coming out of the turbines.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- bradgranath 1y ago
  If your neighbor fired up 35 construction/welding generators across the street you'd notice the smell, right? These things are turbines, each the size of a shipping container. I don't think you need IR evidence to know that it would be unpleasant.
  - ricardobeat 1y ago
    Probably not, because there would be a significant distance between industrial and residential zoning, and in this age catalytic converters, scrubbers, carbon capture etc are all mandatory.
    - gambiting 1y ago
      Except they are not, because all of these turbines are "emergency" generators which are completely exempt from any environmental regulations, due to being designed well....for emergencies. But it looks like xAI found a loophole that says they can operate them 364 days a year and it's still legal, so no, they don't actually do any emissions control on them.
      - ricardobeat 1y ago
        And that certainly could be shown by simple air quality metrics, would you agree? Which hasn’t featured in any of the reporting so far. Showing thermal images capturing heat plumes does not equal air pollution.
steeve 1y ago
Musk doing Musk things
cobythedog 1y ago
"We Went to the Town Elon Musk is Poisoning" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJT2JeDCyw&pp=ygUJZWxvbiB0b3du https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJT2JeDCyw&pp=ygUJZWxvbiB0b...

57 points by troupo 1y ago

I was under the impression that they specifically picked this location because there is a big power plant nearby which they can hook into. Why are they building their own turbines?

nikanj 1y ago
Power plant needs to follow environmental reqs which leads to higher energy cost. Burning fuel on-site with no emissions control is cheaper
- SR2Z 1y ago
  Sure, but the difference between burning propane without a filter and coal with a filter is probably not that large. Propane is a clean-burning fuel.
  - Craighead 1y ago
    [dead]

James_K 1y ago

Every year, it becomes more and more apparent that the philosophy of tech companies is to break or avoid the law and hope you're too big for the government to do something about it.

Zigurd 1y ago
As with any life hack, if you make life hacks your whole personality, you turn into a scumbag. Trust me, bro about those robo taxis. They're safe we tested them.

tomhow 1y ago

Url changed from https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/12/xai-data-center/ https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/12/xai-data-center/ which points to this.

cheschire 1y ago
The Politico article linked at the top of the same post has far more detail.
- tomhow 1y ago
  Ok thanks, changed.

blibble 1y ago

the real weakness of the "AI industry" seems to be the massive increase in CO2 emissions required if I was trying to kill it politically that's exactly what I'd focus on

unstablediffusi 1y ago
[dead]
blooalien 1y ago
> the real weakness of the "AI industry" seems to be the massive increase in CO2 emissions required > if I was trying to kill it politically that's exactly what I'd focus on Except that approximately all of one entire political party (who happen to be currently "in charge" of things) believe that CO2 is good for plants, therefore it's good always for everything and we should put more of it into the atmosphere as quickly as possible, especially if it further enriches outdated obsolete greedy pollution-loving science-hating overlords. Anyone who disagrees is a witch or a terrorist.

ricardobeat 1y ago

I’m sure they are conveniently skirting some regulations in the name of speed, and should not be allowed to do so, but is there hard data on pollution levels increasing around the area? Haven’t seen it in any of these reports, instead there are FLIR videos of “pollution” coming out of the turbines.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
bradgranath 1y ago
If your neighbor fired up 35 construction/welding generators across the street you'd notice the smell, right? These things are turbines, each the size of a shipping container. I don't think you need IR evidence to know that it would be unpleasant.
- ricardobeat 1y ago
  Probably not, because there would be a significant distance between industrial and residential zoning, and in this age catalytic converters, scrubbers, carbon capture etc are all mandatory.
  - gambiting 1y ago
    Except they are not, because all of these turbines are "emergency" generators which are completely exempt from any environmental regulations, due to being designed well....for emergencies. But it looks like xAI found a loophole that says they can operate them 364 days a year and it's still legal, so no, they don't actually do any emissions control on them.
    - ricardobeat 1y ago
      And that certainly could be shown by simple air quality metrics, would you agree? Which hasn’t featured in any of the reporting so far. Showing thermal images capturing heat plumes does not equal air pollution.

steeve 1y ago

Musk doing Musk things

cobythedog 1y ago

"We Went to the Town Elon Musk is Poisoning" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJT2JeDCyw&pp=ygUJZWxvbiB0b3du https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJT2JeDCyw&pp=ygUJZWxvbiB0b...