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So even when xAI (which is now Tesla? Or SpaceX maybe?) was "operating dozens of unregulated gas turbines that worsen the air quality in one of the most polluted parts of the country"[0] this didn't place them above this new Amazon not-even-built-yet data center? Are they competing who can destroy the earth the fastest or what's going on?

- [0] https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/musks-xai-is-being-sued-ov...

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It seems wrong that Amazon should get in trouble for this when it was XAI that began this new race to the bottom.

Peoplecheered xAI on and admired how quickly they were able to move, without much regard to the methods or legality. IMO competitors had no choice but to respond in kind when they see XAI not just getting away with it, but also getting a pass on legal issues.

You think Amazon shouldn’t get in trouble for this because someone else did it first?

> It seems wrong that Amazon should get in trouble for this when it was XAI that began this new race to the bottom.

Who gives a shit who started it? The ones who continue engaging in it, should clearly be punished as they're working against humanity's best interest of keeping this planet survivable.

If you're one of the largest companies in the world, constantly brag about how environmental friendly you are and how much you care about "sustainability" or what the trendy word is today, and you end up building a data center that sets a record in pollution (either directly or indirectly), you're doing something massively fucked up and are misaligned with the rest of the people on this planet.

> Peoplecheered xAI on and admired how quickly they were able to move, without much regard to the methods or legality. IMO competitors had no choice but to respond in kind when they see XAI not just getting away with it, but also getting a pass on legal issues.

I guess this is what late-stage capitalism gives you ultimately, companies who feel like it's fine doing whatever because competitors are also doing whatever. No one I know have been cheering for anything like that, I suggest if you have people cheering about stuff like that near you, get far away.

Pretty sure it’s “is”, they were operating gas turbines for power and continue to do so

So where is the police? They're running turbines they haven't been granted permits to run, if Average Joe did so the police would show up and literally grab the hardware from him, one way or another, or disable it at least. What the fuck are they waiting for?

Who knows.?

You’re not wrong that an average person would be in trouble with the law if they took even remotely the same action.

One could also ask where’s the EPA, since they openly acknowledged laws were being broken back in January. [1]

But xAI has added more turbines since it started years ago, and the water recycling plant is paused [2].

As for doing something about all of this, I suspect it’s even less likely now that Anthropic is using it for compute [3].

1. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pollution-musks-unper...

2. https://wreg.com/news/local/xai-memphis/xai-puts-water-recyc...

3. https://x.ai/news/anthropic-compute-partnership

Where are you getting the information that it's unauthorized (or needs to be authorized)?

> Where are you getting the information that it's unauthorized (or needs to be authorized)?

https://www.selc.org/press-release/naacp-asks-court-for-emer... and the previous link I referenced.

One would think if there is even a suspicion (even if it hasn't been ruled in court yet) about large-scale harmful toxic emissions, the police and relevant authorities would at least quickly do some samples or what not, to figure out if they need to put an immediate stop to it until the courts ruled either way.

But seemingly it's still ongoing and no harm no foul?

Do you know the difference between civil law and criminal law? The police don’t care if they’re not violating a criminal statute. If you want to test how it works, build a brand new house in a city without pulling any permits.

I do indeed. Do you know that severe violations of civil law sometimes amount of up to criminal law, especially if there is evidence of criminal intent or "knowing" violations of the law but proceeding anyway?

This is the case for lots of things. Negligence can turn into "reckless disregard for human life", breach of contract could amount to fraud, and many other cases.

The NAACP claims don't amount to facts.

> The NAACP claims don't amount to facts.

If that were true, I doubt the DOJ would step in and attempt to squash the lawsuit

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-administratio...

Indeed, but they do amount to "suspicion" and are worth investigating instead of saying "Lets wait years until the courts decided if it is or isn't actually polluting" and not shutting it down until they've clearly demonstrated it being safe or not.

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