We all use artificial intelligence.

The consequences sit on the horizon. I can’t comfort myself with the idea that I’ll be dead before it gets really bad, because given the rate at which the AI industry is expanding, I probably won’t be.

I know we are all tired of reading about AI. Every time I open my phone, there are five different articles claiming that AI will either solve all of our problems or result in the destruction of all mankind. Regardless of the outlook, AI brings many benefits. It makes life easier. Personally, it has carried me through every math class I’ve ever taken.

So I’m not going to discuss the tech itself­. I want to shift the narrative to villainize the corporations that are doing what corporations do best — putting profit over ethics.

As people, it’s smart to be aware of the actual cost of AI. As Southerners, the consequences will hit us faster than the rest of the world.

Headquartered in cushy Palo Alto, Grok 4 has found a new home in Boxtown, Tennessee.

Grok 4, a large language model created by Elon Musk and xAI, generated almost $300 million in revenue in 2025.

Boxtown, a small, predominantly black neighborhood in Memphis, has a median income of $37,000 and is fueling the data center with enough electricity to power 100,000 homes.

The University of Tennessee found that since the plant’s introduction, air quality has declined significantly. Nitrogen levels increased by almost 80% in areas surrounding the data center.

When inhaled, excess nitrogen oxide can cause asthma, congestive heart failure and carbon monoxide toxicity. Hiding behind Memphis’ already low air quality scores, xAI takes advantage of the lack of infrastructure to make lasting improvements.

By taking advantage of underprivileged and underfunded neighborhoods, big tech has chosen local Southern communities to call home. Billion-dollar data centers are constructed, siphoning enormous amounts of already limited local resources. Most towns are unable to fight back.

For local residents, electricity prices will rise as the vast majority of energy resources will be funneled into data centers. Tech companies are given discounted rates while civilians eat the excess cost. Each facility consumes millions of gallons of water a day.

Non-disclosure agreements signed in the early developmental stages of construction limit the information available to locals. By the time locals are informed, they already feel the effects. Millions of dollars in land are signed away, counties are rezoned and energy commitments are made.

Data centers don’t add to the job market — they steal from locals and lower their quality of life while large corporations reap the benefits.

For small Southern communities that barely have enough resources for residents, AI will bleed them dry.

Tech executives will never step foot in the communities they destroy. They won’t have to pay increased taxes or worry about a contaminated water supply. They won’t have to worry about developing serious respiratory conditions at the ripe age of 25. If it were happening in their backyard, they would stop.

Data centers are defended on the foundation that they are an investment in a bright and shiny future. But what’s the point of investing in the future if we destroy the present while we’re at it?

Released on July 23, 2025, the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan hides behind a creed of “America First,” aiming to grab the top spot in the global AI race — because we just absolutely must beat China, our destined arch-rivals.

The plan calls for states to review regulations that restrict AI usage and integration — states with looser regulations get to be the lucky home of new data centers and the benefactors of the subsequent discretionary funding.

While the NAACP has begun legal action against xAI, it’s doubtful that the Environmental Protection Agency will invest much time or care. The EPA is part of the same administration loosening AI regulations and prioritizing globalization over the American people.

There is a reason big tech is building its empire in the South. Underfunded and overlooked, they don’t have the resources to respond to the battle of environmental colonization.

Memphis doesn’t need a billion-dollar supercomputer that siphons already limited environmental resources, and America doesn’t need another gold medal.

Winning the “who does AI best” competition is not worth destroying the South. It’s not worth destroying neighborhoods of blue-collar people.

The protest of data centers is not the protest of AI. It’s the protest of corporate greed and manipulation.

AI companies should be required by law to be upfront about the dangerous effects of data centers. If xAI had to come out and say, “We are pumping dangerous amounts of nitrogen oxide into the air,” it wouldn’t go over as well. Cut the red tape and let local residents in the room where decisions are made.

AI is coming whether we like it or not. History proves there is no stopping a technological revolution. So it’s unreasonable to call for the eradication of data centers and AI.

But it is reasonable to demand transparency, due democratic process and public negotiation. It is ideologically moot to build revolutionary data centers while undermining democracy.

As UT students, we all call Tennessee home. Whether it be for four years or for the rest of our lives, we all have a stake in the South. While you may not live in Boxtown, you might one day find yourself in a small, suburban neighborhood close by. If you don’t want to live in a world where corporations can destroy communities, don’t be indifferent.

We must approach the future together, working toward a cleaner solution for all.

We have been innovating and inventing forever. Innovation for the sake of efficiency sometimes comes at the detriment of the environment. But the beauty of innovation is that you can keep going until you create something sustainable.

But big tech is being reckless about risks. They could be using places like Memphis to learn, to track results and effects in an effort to inform the next center. Negatives are unavoidable in the pursuit of improvement. But big tech can decide if the negatives are senseless or not.

Erin Brockovich said it best: “Corporations in communities need to be better neighbors.”

We don’t need to hate each other — we just need to cohabitate.

Welcoming compromise is the only way forward. After all, it’s the Southern way.

Claire Thatcher is a freshman at UT this year studying journalism and media. She can be reached at [email protected].

Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.