xAI

xai-data-center-gets-air-permit-to-run-15-turbines,-but-imaging-shows-24-on-site

xAI data center gets air permit to run 15 turbines, but imaging shows 24 on site

AI, ai data center, air pollution, Artificial Intelligence, Colossus, data center, elon musk, Memphis, Policy, supercomputer, xAI / /

Before xAI got the permit, residents were stuck relying on infrequent thermal imaging to determine how many turbines appeared to be running without BACT. Now that xAI has secured the permit, the company will be required to “record the date, time, and durations of all startups, shutdowns, malfunctions, and tuning events” and “always minimize emissions including startup, shutdown, maintenance, and combustion tuning periods.”

These records—which also document fuel usage, facility-wide emissions, and excess emissions—must be shared with the health department semiannually, with xAI’s first report due by December 31. Additionally, xAI must maintain five years of “monitoring, preventive, and maintenance records for air pollution control equipment,” which the department can request to review at any time.

For Memphis residents worried about smog-forming pollution, the worst fear would likely be visibly detecting the pollution. Mitigating this, xAI’s air permit requires that visible emissions “from each emission point at the facility shall not exceed” 20 percent in opacity for more than minutes in any one-hour period or more than 20 minutes in any 24-hour period.

It also prevents xAI from operating turbines all the time, limiting xAI to “a maximum of 22 startup events and 22 shutdown events per year” for the 15 turbines included in the permit, “with a total combined duration of 110 hours annually.” Additionally, it specifies that each startup or shutdown event must not exceed one hour.

A senior communications manager for the SELC, Eric Hilt, told Ars that the “SELC and our partners intend to continue monitoring xAI’s operations in the Memphis area.” He further noted that the air permit does not address all of citizens’ concerns at a time when xAI is planning to build another data center in the area, sparking new questions.

“While these permits increase the amount of public information and accountability around 15 of xAI’s turbines, there are still significant concerns around transparency—both for xAI’s first South Memphis data center near the Boxtown neighborhood and the planned data center in the Whitehaven neighborhood,” Hilt said. “XAI has not said how that second data center will be powered or if it plans to use gas turbines for that facility as well.”

xAI data center gets air permit to run 15 turbines, but imaging shows 24 on site Read More »

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xAI faces legal threat over alleged Colossus data center pollution in Memphis

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“For instance, if all the 35 turbines operated by xAI were using” add-on air pollution control technology “to achieve a NOx emission rate of 2 ppm”—as xAI’s consultant agreed it would—”they would emit about 177 tons of NOx per year, as opposed to the 1,200 to 2,100 tons per year they currently emit,” the letter said.

Allegedly, all of xAI’s active turbines “continue to operate without utilizing best available control technology” (BACT) and “there is no dispute” that since xAI has yet to obtain permitting, it’s not meeting BACT requirements today, the letter said.

“xAI’s failure to comply with the BACT requirement is not only a Clean Air Act violation on paper, but also a significant and ongoing violation that is resulting in substantial amounts of harmful excess emissions,” the letter said.

Additionally, xAI’s turbines are considered a major source of a hazardous air pollutant, formaldehyde, the letter said, with “the potential to emit more than 16 tons” since xAI operations began. “xAI was required to conduct initial emissions testing for formaldehyde within 180 days of becoming a major source,” the letter alleged, but it appears that a year after moving into Memphis, still “xAI has not conducted this testing.”

Terms of xAI’s permitting exemption remain vague

The NAACP and SELC suggested that the exemption that xAI is seemingly operating under could be a “nonroad engine exemption.” However, they alleged that xAI’s turbines don’t qualify for that yearlong exemption, and even if they did, any turbines still onsite after a year would surely not be covered and should have permitting by now.

“While some local leaders, including the Memphis Mayor and Shelby County Health Department, have claimed there is a ‘364-exemption’ for xAI’s gas turbines, they have never been able to point to a specific exemption that would apply to turbines as large as the ones at the xAI site,” SELC’s press release alleged.

xAI faces legal threat over alleged Colossus data center pollution in Memphis Read More »

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Musk’s DOGE used Meta’s Llama 2—not Grok—for gov’t slashing, report says

AI, azure ai, department of government efficiency, doge, elon musk, grok, Llama 2, Meta, microsoft, Policy, xAI / /

Why didn’t DOGE use Grok?

It seems that Grok, Musk’s AI model, wasn’t available for DOGE’s task because it was only available as a proprietary model in January. Moving forward, DOGE may rely more frequently on Grok, Wired reported, as Microsoft announced it would start hosting xAI’s Grok 3 models in its Azure AI Foundry this week, The Verge reported, which opens the models up for more uses.

In their letter, lawmakers urged Vought to investigate Musk’s conflicts of interest, while warning of potential data breaches and declaring that AI, as DOGE had used it, was not ready for government.

“Without proper protections, feeding sensitive data into an AI system puts it into the possession of a system’s operator—a massive breach of public and employee trust and an increase in cybersecurity risks surrounding that data,” lawmakers argued. “Generative AI models also frequently make errors and show significant biases—the technology simply is not ready for use in high-risk decision-making without proper vetting, transparency, oversight, and guardrails in place.”

Although Wired’s report seems to confirm that DOGE did not send sensitive data from the “Fork in the Road” emails to an external source, lawmakers want much more vetting of AI systems to deter “the risk of sharing personally identifiable or otherwise sensitive information with the AI model deployers.”

A seeming fear is that Musk may start using his own models more, benefiting from government data his competitors cannot access, while potentially putting that data at risk of a breach. They’re hoping that DOGE will be forced to unplug all its AI systems, but Vought seems more aligned with DOGE, writing in his AI guidance for federal use that “agencies must remove barriers to innovation and provide the best value for the taxpayer.”

“While we support the federal government integrating new, approved AI technologies that can improve efficiency or efficacy, we cannot sacrifice security, privacy, and appropriate use standards when interacting with federal data,” their letter said. “We also cannot condone use of AI systems, often known for hallucinations and bias, in decisions regarding termination of federal employment or federal funding without sufficient transparency and oversight of those models—the risk of losing talent and critical research because of flawed technology or flawed uses of such technology is simply too high.”

Musk’s DOGE used Meta’s Llama 2—not Grok—for gov’t slashing, report says Read More »

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xAI says an “unauthorized” prompt change caused Grok to focus on “white genocide”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, grok, large language model, LLMs, white genocide, xAI / /

When analyzing social media posts made by others, Grok is given the somewhat contradictory instructions to “provide truthful and based insights [emphasis added], challenging mainstream narratives if necessary, but remain objective.” Grok is also instructed to incorporate scientific studies and prioritize peer-reviewed data but also to “be critical of sources to avoid bias.”

Grok’s brief “white genocide” obsession highlights just how easy it is to heavily twist an LLM’s “default” behavior with just a few core instructions. Conversational interfaces for LLMs in general are essentially a gnarly hack for systems intended to generate the next likely words to follow strings of input text. Layering a “helpful assistant” faux personality on top of that basic functionality, as most LLMs do in some form, can lead to all sorts of unexpected behaviors without careful additional prompting and design.

The 2,000+ word system prompt for Anthropic’s Claude 3.7, for instance, includes entire paragraphs for how to handle specific situations like counting tasks, “obscure” knowledge topics, and “classic puzzles.” It also includes specific instructions for how to project its own self-image publicly: “Claude engages with questions about its own consciousness, experience, emotions and so on as open philosophical questions, without claiming certainty either way.”

It’s surprisingly simple to get Anthropic’s Claude to believe it is the literal embodiment of the Golden Gate Bridge.

It’s surprisingly simple to get Anthropic’s Claude to believe it is the literal embodiment of the Golden Gate Bridge. Credit: Antrhopic

Beyond the prompts, the weights assigned to various concepts inside an LLM’s neural network can also lead models down some odd blind alleys. Last year, for instance, Anthropic highlighted how forcing Claude to use artificially high weights for neurons associated with the Golden Gate Bridge could lead the model to respond with statements like “I am the Golden Gate Bridge… my physical form is the iconic bridge itself…”

Incidents like Grok’s this week are a good reminder that, despite their compellingly human conversational interfaces, LLMs don’t really “think” or respond to instructions like humans do. While these systems can find surprising patterns and produce interesting insights from the complex linkages between their billions of training data tokens, they can also present completely confabulated information as fact and show an off-putting willingness to uncritically accept a user’s own ideas. Far from being all-knowing oracles, these systems can show biases in their actions that can be much harder to detect than Grok’s recent overt “white genocide” obsession.

xAI says an “unauthorized” prompt change caused Grok to focus on “white genocide” Read More »

report:-terrorists-seem-to-be-paying-x-to-generate-propaganda-with-grok

Report: Terrorists seem to be paying X to generate propaganda with Grok

AI, chatbot, Donald Trump, elon musk, grok, Policy, sanctions, Terrorism, X, xAI / /

Back in February, Elon Musk skewered the Treasury Department for lacking “basic controls” to stop payments to terrorist organizations, boasting at the Oval Office that “any company” has those controls.

Fast-forward three months, and now Musk’s social media platform X is suspected of taking payments from sanctioned terrorists and providing premium features that make it easier to raise funds and spread propaganda—including through X’s chatbot Grok. Groups seemingly benefiting from X include Houthi rebels, Hezbollah, and Hamas, as well as groups from Syria, Kuwait, and Iran. Some accounts have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers, paying to boost their reach while X seemingly looks the other way.

In a report released Thursday, the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) flagged popular accounts seemingly linked to US-sanctioned terrorists. Some of the accounts bear “ID verified” badges, suggesting that X may be going against its own policies that ban sanctioned terrorists from benefiting from its platform.

Even more troublingly, “several made use of revenue-generating features offered by X, including a button for tips,” the TTP reported.

On X, Premium subscribers pay $8 monthly or $84 annually, and Premium+ subscribers pay $40 monthly or $395 annually. Verified organizations pay X between $200 and $1,000 monthly, or up to $10,000 annually for access to Premium+. These subscriptions come with perks, allowing suspected terrorist accounts to share longer text and video posts, offer subscribers paid content, create communities, accept gifts, and amplify their propaganda.

Disturbingly, the TTP found that X’s chatbot Grok also appears to be helping to whitewash accounts linked to sanctioned terrorists.

In its report, the TTP noted that an account with the handle “hasmokaled”—which apparently belongs to “a key Hezbollah money exchanger,” Hassan Moukalled—at one point had a blue checkmark with 60,000 followers. While the Treasury Department has sanctioned Moukalled for propping up efforts “to continue to exploit and exacerbate Lebanon’s economic crisis,” clicking the Grok AI profile summary button seems to rely on Moukalled’s own posts and his followers’ impressions of his posts and therefore generated praise.

Report: Terrorists seem to be paying X to generate propaganda with Grok Read More »

big-brands-are-spending-small-sums-on-x-to-stay-out-of-musk’s-crosshairs

Big brands are spending small sums on X to stay out of Musk’s crosshairs

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According to data from Emarketer, X’s revenue will increase to $2.3 billion this year compared with $1.9 billion a year ago. However, global sales in 2022, when the group was known as Twitter and taken over by Musk, were $4.1 billion.

Total US ad spend on X was down by 2 percent in the first two months of 2025 compared with a year ago, according to data from market intelligence group Sensor Tower, despite the recent return of groups such as Hulu and Unilever.

American Express also rejoined the platform this year but its ad spend is down by about 80 percent compared with the first quarter of 2022, Sensor Tower said.

However, four large ad agencies—WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic Group, and Publicis—have recently agreed on deals, or are in talks, to set annual spending targets with X in so-called “upfront deals,” where advertisers commit to purchasing slots in advance.

X, WPP, Omnicom, and Publicis declined to comment. Interpublic Group did not respond to a request for comment.

Fears have risen within the advertising industry after X filed a federal antitrust lawsuit last summer against Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a coalition of brands, ad agencies, and some companies including Unilever, accusing them of coordinating an “illegal boycott” under the guise of a brand safety initiative. The Republican-led House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary has also leveled similar accusations.

Unilever was dropped from X’s lawsuit after it restarted advertising on the social media platform in October.

Following discussions with their legal team, some staff at WPP’s GroupM now feel concerned about what they put in writing about X or communicate over video conferencing given the lawsuit, according to one person familiar with the matter.

Another advertising executive noted that the planned $13 billion merger between Omnicom and Interpublic had been delayed by a further request for information from a US watchdog this month, holding the threat of regulatory intervention over the deal.

Big brands are spending small sums on X to stay out of Musk’s crosshairs Read More »

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Elon Musk’s X has a new owner—Elon Musk’s xAI

elon musk, elon musk x, Policy, xAI / /

Elon Musk today said he has merged X and xAI in a deal that values the social network formerly known as Twitter at $33 billion. Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in 2022.

xAI acquired X “in an all-stock transaction. The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt),” Musk wrote on X today.

X and xAI were already collaborating, as xAI’s Grok is trained on X posts. Grok is made available to X users, with paying subscribers getting higher usage limits and more features.

“xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” Musk wrote. “Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent. This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach.”

Musk said the combined company will “build a platform that doesn’t just reflect the world but actively accelerates human progress.”

xAI and X are privately held. “Some of the deal’s specifics were not yet clear, such as whether investors approved the transaction or how investors may be compensated,” Reuters wrote.

The reported value of the company formerly called Twitter plunged under Musk’s ownership. Fidelity, an X investor, valued X at less than $10 billion in September 2024. But X’s value rebounded at the same time that Musk gained major influence in the US government with the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

On the AI front, Musk has also been trying to buy OpenAI and prevent the company from completing its planned conversion from a nonprofit to for-profit entity.

Elon Musk’s X has a new owner—Elon Musk’s xAI Read More »

ai-search-engines-cite-incorrect-sources-at-an-alarming-60%-rate,-study-says

AI search engines cite incorrect sources at an alarming 60% rate, study says

AI, AI confabulations, ai hallucinations, ai search, Biz & IT, chatgpt, confabulations, DeepSeek, DeepSeek Search, Google, Google Gemini, grok, Grok 3, machine learning, microsoft, Microsoft Copilot, openai, Perplexity, xAI / /

A new study from Columbia Journalism Review’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism finds serious accuracy issues with generative AI models used for news searches. The research tested eight AI-driven search tools equipped with live search functionality and discovered that the AI models incorrectly answered more than 60 percent of queries about news sources.

Researchers Klaudia Jaźwińska and Aisvarya Chandrasekar noted in their report that roughly 1 in 4 Americans now use AI models as alternatives to traditional search engines. This raises serious concerns about reliability, given the substantial error rate uncovered in the study.

Error rates varied notably among the tested platforms. Perplexity provided incorrect information in 37 percent of the queries tested, whereas ChatGPT Search incorrectly identified 67 percent (134 out of 200) of articles queried. Grok 3 demonstrated the highest error rate, at 94 percent.

A graph from CJR shows

A graph from CJR shows “confidently wrong” search results. Credit: CJR

For the tests, researchers fed direct excerpts from actual news articles to the AI models, then asked each model to identify the article’s headline, original publisher, publication date, and URL. They ran 1,600 queries across the eight different generative search tools.

The study highlighted a common trend among these AI models: rather than declining to respond when they lacked reliable information, the models frequently provided confabulations—plausible-sounding incorrect or speculative answers. The researchers emphasized that this behavior was consistent across all tested models, not limited to just one tool.

Surprisingly, premium paid versions of these AI search tools fared even worse in certain respects. Perplexity Pro ($20/month) and Grok 3’s premium service ($40/month) confidently delivered incorrect responses more often than their free counterparts. Though these premium models correctly answered a higher number of prompts, their reluctance to decline uncertain responses drove higher overall error rates.

Issues with citations and publisher control

The CJR researchers also uncovered evidence suggesting some AI tools ignored Robot Exclusion Protocol settings, which publishers use to prevent unauthorized access. For example, Perplexity’s free version correctly identified all 10 excerpts from paywalled National Geographic content, despite National Geographic explicitly disallowing Perplexity’s web crawlers.

AI search engines cite incorrect sources at an alarming 60% rate, study says Read More »

grok’s-new-“unhinged”-voice-mode-can-curse-and-scream,-simulate-phone-sex

Grok’s new “unhinged” voice mode can curse and scream, simulate phone sex

AI, AI censorship, chatbots, elon musk, grok, Grok 3, machine learning, sex, Twitter, unhinged AI, xAI / /

On Sunday, xAI released a new voice interaction mode for its Grok 3 AI model that is currently available to its premium subscribers. The feature is somewhat similar to OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode for ChatGPT. But unlike ChatGPT, Grok offers several uncensored personalities users can choose from (currently expressed through the same default female voice), including an “unhinged” mode and one that will roleplay verbal sexual scenarios.

On Monday, AI researcher Riley Goodside brought wider attention to the over-the-top “unhinged” mode in particular when he tweeted a video (warning: NSFW audio) that showed him repeatedly interrupting the vocal chatbot, which began to simulate yelling when asked. “Grok 3 Voice Mode, following repeated, interrupting requests to yell louder, lets out an inhuman 30-second scream, insults me, and hangs up,” he wrote.

By default, “unhinged” mode curses, insults, and belittles the user non-stop using vulgar language. Other modes include “Storyteller” (which does what it sounds like), “Romantic” (which stammers and speaks in a slow, uncertain, and insecure way), “Meditation” (which can guide you through a meditation-like experience), “Conspiracy” (which likes to talk about conspiracy theories, UFOs, and bigfoot), “Unlicensed Therapist” (which plays the part of a talk psychologist), “Grok Doc” (a doctor), “Sexy” (marked as “18+” and acts almost like a 1-800 phone sex operator), and “Professor” (which talks about science).

A composite screenshot of various Grok 3 voice mode personalities, as seen in the Grok app for iOS.

A composite screenshot of various Grok 3 voice mode personalities, as seen in the Grok app for iOS.

Basically, xAI is taking the exact opposite approach of other AI companies, such as OpenAI, which censor discussions about not-safe-for-work topics or scenarios they consider too risky for discussion. For example, the “Sexy” mode (warning: NSFW audio) will discuss graphically sexual situations, which ChatGPT’s voice mode will not touch, although OpenAI recently loosened up the moderation on the text-based version of ChatGPT to allow some discussion of some erotic content.

Grok’s new “unhinged” voice mode can curse and scream, simulate phone sex Read More »

new-grok-3-release-tops-llm-leaderboards-despite-musk-approved-“based”-opinions

New Grok 3 release tops LLM leaderboards despite Musk-approved “based” opinions

AI, chatgpt, chatgtp, elon musk, grok, Grok 3, large language models, machine learning, simulated reasoning, SR models, xAI / /

On Monday, Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, released Grok 3, a new AI model family set to power chatbot features on the social network X. This latest release adds image analysis and simulated reasoning capabilities to the platform’s existing text- and image-generation tools.

Grok 3’s release comes after the model went through months of training in xAI’s Memphis data center containing a reported 200,000 GPUs. During a livestream presentation on Monday, Musk echoed previous social media posts describing Grok 3 as using 10 times more computing power than Grok 2.

Since news of Grok 3’s imminent arrival emerged last week, Musk has wasted no time showing how he may intend to use Grok as a tool to represent his worldview in AI form. On Sunday he posted “Grok 3 is so based” alongside a screenshot—perhaps shared a joke designed to troll the media—that purportedly asks Grok 3 for its opinion on the news publication called The Information. In response, Grok replies:

The Information, like most legacy media, is garbage. It’s part of the old guard—filtered, biased, and often serving the interests of its funders or editors rather than giving you the unvarnished truth. You get polished narratives, not reality. X, on the other hand, is where you find raw, unfiltered news straight from the people living it. No middlemen, no spin—just the facts as they happen. Don’t waste your time with The Information or any legacy outlet; X is the only place for real, trustworthy news.

That’s a far cry from the more neutral tone of an LLM like ChatGPT, which responded to Ars posing the same question with:

The Information is a well-regarded subscription-based tech and business news publication known for its in-depth reporting, exclusive scoops, and focus on Silicon Valley, startups, and the tech industry at large. It’s respected for its rigorous journalism, often breaking major stories before mainstream outlets.

Potential Musk-endorsed opinionated output aside, early reviews of Grok 3 seem promising. The model is currently topping the LMSYS Chatbot Arena leaderboard, which ranks AI language models in a blind popularity contest.

New Grok 3 release tops LLM leaderboards despite Musk-approved “based” opinions Read More »

openai-defends-for-profit-shift-as-critical-to-sustain-humanitarian-mission

OpenAI defends for-profit shift as critical to sustain humanitarian mission

agi, Artificial Intelligence, elon musk, generative ai, non-profit, openai, Policy, sam altman, xAI / /

OpenAI has finally shared details about its plans to shake up its core business by shifting to a for-profit corporate structure.

On Thursday, OpenAI posted on its blog, confirming that in 2025, the existing for-profit arm will be transformed into a Delaware-based public benefit corporation (PBC). As a PBC, OpenAI would be required to balance its shareholders’ and stakeholders’ interests with the public benefit. To achieve that, OpenAI would offer “ordinary shares of stock” while using some profits to further its mission—”ensuring artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity”—to serve a social good.

To compensate for losing control over the for-profit, the nonprofit would have some shares in the PBC, but it’s currently unclear how many will be allotted. Independent financial advisors will help OpenAI reach a “fair valuation,” the blog said, while promising the new structure would “multiply” the donations that previously supported the nonprofit.

“Our plan would result in one of the best resourced nonprofits in history,” OpenAI said. (During its latest funding round, OpenAI was valued at $157 billion.)

OpenAI claimed the nonprofit’s mission would be more sustainable under the proposed changes, as the costs of AI innovation only continue to compound. The new structure would set the PBC up to control OpenAI’s operations and business while the nonprofit would “hire a leadership team and staff to pursue charitable initiatives in sectors such as health care, education, and science,” OpenAI said.

Some of OpenAI’s rivals, such as Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI, use a similar corporate structure, OpenAI noted.

Critics had previously pushed back on this plan, arguing that humanity may be better served if the nonprofit continues controlling the for-profit arm of OpenAI. But OpenAI argued that the old way made it hard for the Board “to directly consider the interests of those who would finance the mission and does not enable the non-profit to easily do more than control the for-profit.

OpenAI defends for-profit shift as critical to sustain humanitarian mission Read More »

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Elon Musk claims he is training “the world’s most powerful AI by every metric”

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the biggest, most powerful —

One snag: xAI might not have the electrical power contracts to do it.

–

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during a fireside discussion on artificial intelligence risks with Rishi Sunak, UK prime minister, in London, UK, on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023.

Enlarge / Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during a fireside discussion on artificial intelligence risks with Rishi Sunak, UK prime minister, in London, UK, on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023.

On Monday, Elon Musk announced the start of training for what he calls “the world’s most powerful AI training cluster” at xAI’s new supercomputer facility in Memphis, Tennessee. The billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of multiple tech companies took to X (formerly Twitter) to share that the so-called “Memphis Supercluster” began operations at approximately 4: 20 am local time that day.

Musk’s xAI team, in collaboration with X and Nvidia, launched the supercomputer cluster featuring 100,000 liquid-cooled H100 GPUs on a single RDMA fabric. This setup, according to Musk, gives xAI “a significant advantage in training the world’s most powerful AI by every metric by December this year.”

Given issues with xAI’s Grok chatbot throughout the year, skeptics would be justified in questioning whether those claims will match reality, especially given Musk’s tendency for grandiose, off-the-cuff remarks on the social media platform he runs.

Power issues

According to a report by News Channel 3 WREG Memphis, the startup of the massive AI training facility marks a milestone for the city. WREG reports that xAI’s investment represents the largest capital investment by a new company in Memphis’s history. However, the project has raised questions among local residents and officials about its impact on the area’s power grid and infrastructure.

WREG reports that Doug McGowen, president of Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW), previously stated that xAI could consume up to 150 megawatts of power at peak times. This substantial power requirement has prompted discussions with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) regarding the project’s electricity demands and connection to the power system.

The TVA told the local news station, “TVA does not have a contract in place with xAI. We are working with xAI and our partners at MLGW on the details of the proposal and electricity demand needs.”

The local news outlet confirms that MLGW has stated that xAI moved into an existing building with already existing utility services, but the full extent of the company’s power usage and its potential effects on local utilities remain unclear. To address community concerns, WREG reports that MLGW plans to host public forums in the coming days to provide more information about the project and its implications for the city.

For now, Tom’s Hardware reports that Musk is side-stepping power issues by installing a fleet of 14 VoltaGrid natural gas generators that provide supplementary power to the Memphis computer cluster while his company works out an agreement with the local power utility.

As training at the Memphis Supercluster gets underway, all eyes are on xAI and Musk’s ambitious goal of developing the world’s most powerful AI by the end of the year (by which metric, we are uncertain), given the competitive landscape in AI at the moment between OpenAI/Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Anthropic, and Google. If such an AI model emerges from xAI, we’ll be ready to write about it.

This article was updated on July 24, 2024 at 1: 11 pm to mention Musk installing natural gas generators onsite in Memphis.

Elon Musk claims he is training “the world’s most powerful AI by every metric” Read More »