The Grok data center in Memphis, Tennessee runs off gas generators without proper permits. [Reuters, archive; Memphis CAP]
Im starting to believe this musk fellah might not be all that concerned with the environment after all.
As long as it isn’t where he is, why should he care? He’s retiring on Mars, anyway.
(Please, deities, send Musk and Thiel to Mars soon. Together, if possible.)
Oddly enough, Musk is the one of these people who seems reluctant to go into space, either he gets the risks, doesnt care, has trauma from the car crash, or is mega paranoid, I dont think he will ever leave.
I also base this on the fact that he is a big liar, who also does a lot of lies by omission. (Like his diablo world record, based on a health bug exploit). https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-diablo-record
But yes, bang zoom, straight into the sun.
I really wonder what the state of OpenAI will be in five years. They really don’t have a proper business model (or at the very least a functional one), and it doesn’t seem like they will have one. Will Microsoft fully buy them out? It seems like the only way to make “AI” profitable is to make it a selling point on products that would have otherwise already had large profit margins.
on the first day* of christmas, techbros gave to me: a product that would unlaunch promptly!
*just imagine we are in a world line where the days of Christmas start today, I guess
Skipping ahead a bit:
On the twelfth day of Christmas the techbros gave to me:
- 12 data centers
- 11 metaverses
- 10 whiny nazis
- 9 strictly worse trains
- 8 hallucinations
- 7 AI racists
- 6 busted unions
- 5 EN EFF TEEEEES
- 4 cyber cults
- 3 sex pests
- 2 crypto scams
And a bunch of bullshit backed by VCs.
wait, they couldn’t get substation big enough so they’re running straight gas turbines just to power this thing? and it’s not even CCGT (there would be visible cooling towers unless there’s a lake nearby)? i guess they’re doing this this way because it’s compact and doesn’t require water, but they’re 1. paying premium for baseline power, more than for regular price from utility, or normal gas plant, and 2. running pollution -> profit machine straight from captain planet episode
reuters article (through neuters, it works like nitter but for reuters) https://neuters.de/business/environment/musks-xai-operating-gas-turbines-without-permits-data-center-environmental-group-2024-08-28/
to be specific, untreated gas turbine exhaust contains a lot of nitrogen oxides. similar thing (bar particulates) also happens with diesel engines, but usually there’s a catalytic converter downstream. venting it like this is also a massive waste of energy because another ~half of power is still recoverable in steam turbine, for example in my city there’s large CCGT plant with ~350MW gas turbine, ~150MW steam turbine coupled to it and another ~400MW waste heat is pushed into municipal heating grid. smaller turbines are much less efficient than that
Kevin Beaumont started a thread collecting horrifyingly awful Sora output