Memphis Factories and Michigan Townships Resist Data Center Enclosure
June 23, 2026
From the repurposed Electrolux plants in Memphis to proposed nuclear-powered sites in Michigan, local leaders and electricians are challenging the resource-heavy expansion of xAI and Big Tech infrastructure. This physical land-grab for AI dominance is further complicated by a labor crisis where human trainers use chatbots to automate their own work, creating a feedback loop of 'AI inbreeding' just as firms pivot toward fault-tolerant quantum engineering.
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Local Reporter Neil Strebig on Covering xAI's Expansion in Memphis and Beyond
In June 2024 the Greater Memphis, Tennessee Chamber of Commerce announced Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, would build its "Colossus" data center in an old Electrolux factory. Two years on, the story continues to expand alongside the company’s growing footprint, with a second campus…
- AI governance
- media and technology
- structural power
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Nvidia says its AI data center design runs hotter to use a lot less water
Public pushback against data centers has emphasized their water and energy consumption, and now Nvidia is highlighting its claim that the Rubin generation reference design for a fully liquid-cooled data center has "eliminated massive amounts of power usage and pretty much all water usage." Still, it…
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'We Will Fight to Our Very Last Breath:' Township Leaders Vow to Fight Nuclear AI Data Center
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and a proposed nuclear weapons AI data center in Michigan have earned the ire of community leaders.
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People training new AI models admit they just get chatbots to do it
The next generation of AI models are meant to be trained by people paid to have conversations with them, but several of these workers have admitted to New Scientist that they simply get chatbots to do it instead. This "AI inbreeding" may reduce the power and usefulness of future models, warn experts
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Some Electricians Think Building Data Centers Is for Sellouts
Big Tech is throwing big money into data center buildouts. As national opposition to the facilities grows, some workers are beginning to question whether it’s worth it.
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Are useful and error-free quantum computers only two years away?
Quantum computing firm QuEra says it plans to make a fault-tolerant quantum computer and offer it to users through the cloud in 2028, which will require a real leap in engineering
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A quantum state that lasts forever may finally be within our grasp
Defying the laws of thermodynamics, experiments are beginning to show that a quantum state that is frozen forever might not be impossible. If we can tame it, it could unlock whole new types of matter