The Super Computer was launched to local legislators as a way to bring jobs and tax revenue with great payment, but local residents see it in nothing but another threat to their health
Residents of a small Tennessee According to reports, the negative effects of the AI revolution feel the negative effects of the AI revolution Elon Musks Lamb He built the “largest supercomputer in the world” in an abandoned factory.
Musk named the Colossus supercomputer And he said it was the “system of training of the AI in the world.” It was sold to local officials as a way to make Memphis a point of view for advanced technology: providing jobs, taxes and adding a key addition to the “digital delta”.
“This is just the beginning,” Xai said on his website; The company already plans to build a second installation in the city.
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Despite all the promises of economic revitalization in a desperate region, the residents of the nearby Boxown city, a black majority, economically disadvantaged that has historically supported industrial pollution, see the installation of lamb as another threat to their health.
Artificial intelligence systems generally require immense amounts of energy and water to function. To compensate for this supercomputer with power, Musk’s company installed dozens of gas -powered turbines, known for producing a cocktail of toxic pollutants. According to CNNThe company has no air permits, which seems to be used by a state -of -the -law lagoon that allows temporary turbines.
However, environmental groups claim that this lagoon does not apply to lamb, and Boxown residents are furious at the damage that the supercomputer is doing at its quality and air health.
“Our health was never considered, the security of our communities was never considered,” said Sarah Gladney, who lives 3 kilometers from the installation and suffers from a lung condition, told CNN.
According to reports, XAI did not respond to CNN comments applications.
The part of Memphis that the Musk company has stated that it already has a number of polluting industries in the region, including an oil refinery, steel plant and gas power plant. Residents are accustomed to fighting big business for clean air, but this time they are against the richest man in the world and a close ally of the President Donald Trump. All this comes when the Trump administration is making a crochet in environmental regulations and pollution, and has supported the AI.
What is developed in Memphis should be a warning for communities across the country, said Erika Sugarmon, curator of Shelby County, who encompasses Memphis and the surrounding area. “All of these different safeguards are being demolished,” he told CNN. “So where are you going?”
Despite the concerns of local residents, the Mayor of Memphis, Paul Young, has supported the arrival of lamb in his city, saying that he would provide hundreds of jobs with a high amount and $ 30 million in tax revenue only in the first year.
“What we are looking at is an opportunity to completely transform our economy,” said Young. It is “changing the game,” he told CNN.
However, many local legislators do not share the mayor’s optimism and said that they have largely left in the dark about the installation, leaving them searching for answers on the controversial project. The state representative Justin Pearson, Democrat She lives 3 kilometers from the facility, told CNN that she was blind. Its initial concern was how it can be fed. “Our network is no longer stable enough” and the last three winters have seen shooting shoot, he said.
According to CNN, the installation is partially fed by the electricity network, receiving 150 megavatios of local public utility, memphis light, gas and water, sufficient to feed about 100,000 homes.
MLGW told The Outlet that he had done an impact study to ensure that the installation would not affect the availability and reliability of consumer energy. According to the reports, lamb expects approval for 150 additional megavatios.
However, the person’s worries began last summer when the turbines began to appear at the installation.
Turbines fed with gas produce pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, which can cause thorax pain, asthma attacks and, in the long term, have been linked to the decrease in lung function and premature death.
Turbines can also generate carcinogen formaldehyde and small particles of air pollution so small that they can go through the lungs to the bloodstream of people. This is a great concern for residents who have already deeply affected air pollution. According to Prophling analysis, the risk of cancer of industrial sources in the south -Memphis west is 4.1 times higher than the acceptable risk of the EPA.
Shelby county has an Air quality f qualification for American Lung Association’s ozone levels and has higher child hospitalization rates for asthma -related conditions in Tennessee.