A small, primarily Black community in Memphis is fighting back against tech giant Elon Musk, claiming a massive facility he built there is overloading an already beleaguered town with dangerous pollutants. While community leaders and residents insist that the data center is threatening the community's energy and air, Musk’s company, xAI, shows no signs of slowing down.

A colossal strain on the community

Desperate to keep up with the artificial intelligence race , Musk created xAI to compete with ChatGPT , OpenAI’s popular chatbot. To power Grok , xAI’s chatbot, Musk searched for a city in need of investment where he could establish a massive data center to train and power Grok.

He settled on Boxtown, Memphis, a 90% Black working-class neighborhood first settled by formerly enslave

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