Musk's Colossus data center for Grok is at the centre of an environmental row over air quality in South Memphis

If you've been keeping your finger on the pulse of AI developments, you'll know that there's growing concern about meeting the power demands of the data centers that train and run AI inference. Elon Musk's Colossus supercomputer that powers Grok, xAI's alternative to ChatGPT, tackles this by using over 30 methane gas turbine stations, but the construction has incurred fierce criticism over its impact on local air quality.

When Colossus fired up for the first time last year, it was already making headlines.