Grammy-winning singer-songwriter SZA recently used her large social media platform to express frustration over the harm caused by Artificial Intelligence (AI):
Please google how much energy and pollution it takes to run Ai..please google the beautiful black cities like Memphis that are SUFFERING because of twitters new Ai system. PLEASE JUST GOOGLE ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM. AI doesn’t give a f**k if you live or die I promise.”
As AI is further enforced in our workplace and everyday lives, SZA reminds us of the price marginalized people must pay for corporations’ ventures. AI is just the latest example of how “progress” under capitalism is done without care for the communities it harms. In Memphis, Tennessee, where the Black population is over 62 percent, Elon Musk’s xAI company is expanding its production of gas turbines to power AI data centers. Consequently, high concentrations of air pollutants—like nitrogen oxides—will worsen, and residents are voicing concerns about negative health effects. Memphis is already the city with seventh highest asthma-related deaths in the US.
Despite community protest, xAI has been given permission to power more gas turbines. Keshaun Pearson, an organizer with Memphis Community Against Pollution, said:
They talked about in May that there would be no methane gas turbines powering this site. And here we are in August, and have 66 confirmed turbines that will be powering this site. At some point, you have to tell the truth about what we’re seeing. And what we’re seeing is our community being exploited.
Memphis is not alone. Many Black and Brown and low-income communities—like in Detroit, MI, Newark, NJ, and Baltimore, MD—are experiencing disproportionately high levels of pollution. Like SZA, we must all use our voices, wherever and whenever we can, to stand against deteriorating environmental conditions and the companies causing them. But it will only be by bringing our voices together and organizing that we’ll stand a chance to put an end to companies and their reckless ways.
