President Donald Trump’s Justice Department said Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence platform, Grok, is vital for “national security” in response to a lawsuit claiming a data center power plant built by the trillionaire’s company, xAI, threatens Black communities.
Earlier this year, the NAACP sued Musk’s artificial intelligence company, alleging it’s illegally operating 57 gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, to support its Colossus 2 data center, which powers the Grok chatbot. As a result, the group contends the area’s “frontline and Black community members” have been exposed to harmful pollutants, Abre’ Conner, NAACP Director of Environmental and Climate Justice, said.
Now, Justice Department attorneys are calling for the lawsuit against xAI to be dismissed, arguing Grok’s continued operation is a “matter of paramount national security,” and that the NAACP’s complaint “threaten[s] artificial intelligence innovation, plus the energy needed to power it.”
“The NAACP’s attempt to cut off the power that supports Grok also threatens national security because … Grok provides critical support for the Department of War’s military operations,” the Justice Department wrote in court documents filed Monday.
The NAACP has asked a judge to bar xAi from operating its Colossus Gas Plant “until they have obtained the necessary permits and implemented the necessary pollution controls to prevent further harm” to community members, according to a June 12 court filing.
Conner has argued xAI is “asking Black and frontline communities to bear the toxic brunt of ‘innovation.’”
“The NAACP stands firm that true progress cannot be built by ignoring community health and our environment. Our right to clean air is not up for negotiation, especially when companies prove expediency, not people, is their priority,” Conner said in an April press release.
The Independent has contacted the NAACP and xAI for comment.
The lawsuit comes amid growing global concern about data centers, which are used to power artificial intelligence, and their impact on the environment.
Earlier this year, a study led by researchers at the University of Cambridge suggested data centers are creating “data heat islands” and increasing local land surface temperatures by an average of 2 degrees Celsius. That warming effect could impact an estimated 340 million people, according to the study.
Earlier this month, a United Nations University report also found that data centers consumed an estimated 448 terawatt-hours of electricity last year. If data centers were treated as a country, that would make them the world’s 11th-largest electricity consumer, the report said.
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