AI, Boxtown, and the Hidden Costs of Supercomputers
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often praised for its efficiency and potential, but a closer look reveals troubling consequences for Black communities. In Memphis, Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer facility borders Boxtown, a historically Black neighborhood already burdened by industrial pollution. Residents allege that the facility’s emissions are worsening health and environmental conditions, connecting AI’s rapid growth to environmental racism, food justice, and the well-being of marginalized communities.
When one of my best friends (who is also a pastor) encouraged me to look into utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for ministry purposes, I was exhilarated. It seemed like a game-changer at my fingertips. I used it to make presentations and outline Bible studies, saving time on the tasks that often fill my days.
The opportunities seemed endless, and the convenience was remarkable. Regular projects and tasks that I had poured effort into before could now be completed in mere seconds. Not only did I start utilizing it, but I started singing its praises as well to all who would listen.
Then, earlier this summer, I was invited to teach a class entitled “The Integration of Land, Food and Faith Formation in Ministry” at Memphis Theological Seminary. In an effort to utilize the city of Memphis as part of learning opportunities for my class, I began studying the local environmental justice scene.
It was then that I learned things about AI that shifted my perspective and put a damper on my enthusiasm. While teaching my class, I learned that what is touted as the largest supercomputer in the world resides in Memphis. This massive facility was established by Elon Musk to support his artificial intelligence company called xAI.
Musk’s supercomputer facility is near a community called Boxtown, a neighborhood in South Memphis where over 90% of the residents are African American. Boxtown was established in 1863 by formerly enslaved Black families shortly after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. It has long been a site of political and economic neglect as well as a desired location for environmentally harmful corporations.
Now, Boxtown is an immediate neighbor of Elon Musk’s supercomputer facility, which is located just three miles away. Residents of Boxtown are alleging that xAI is polluting the air, the water, and affecting the physical health of people in their community.
This xAI facility is filling the surrounding area, including Boxtown, with smog and harmful chemicals. Its gas turbines are releasing so much pollution that residents are saying that they can barely breathe. It has added significantly to the pollution produced by the 17 or some-odd industrial facilities in the same block of real estate.
The more I pulled back the curtain, the more I saw the ethical and environmental issues lurking behind artificial intelligence (AI) from Musk’s supercomputers to Mark Zuckerberg’s massive data centers (co-founder of Facebook), and the countless AI facilities being quickly built by billionaires in communities around the country.
Each and every search on an AI platform expends enormous amounts of energy. Each task that we complete on these platforms pumps pollution into the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil we eat from. Artificial Intelligence, as currently engineered, is an environmental disaster and a threat to all who live, work, worship or play near its facilities.
As the founder of The Black Church Food Security Network, I focus primarily on organizing African American congregations to grow food on their land and develop mutually beneficial partnerships with Black farmers in an effort to cultivate the development of Black-owned food ecosystems across the country. However, I do not have the luxury of separating issues here. Environmental racism, such as what is occurring in Boxtown, is inherently connected to the health, food justice needs, and overall well-being of Black communities.
AI supercomputers negatively impact the environment, agriculture and food. Black communities are among those being disproportionately affected.”
This piece was originally published in Word in Black. It has been edited for length. For the full opinion piece, visit www.wordinblack.com.