The backlash against AI data centres has reached a new stage: a class-action lawsuit. Residents of Mississippi have sued Elon Musk’s xAI and SpaceX, claiming a gas-fired power plant that feeds nearby data centres blasts “omnipresent and inescapable” noise that has eroded their health and home values.
The case, made public in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi on Tuesday, was brought by three residents on behalf of a class they estimate at more than 10,000 people. It accuses the companies of negligence and of creating a public nuisance through round-the-clock noise and vibrations.
“The AI boom is wreaking havoc on communities across the United States,” the complaint says. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for emotional distress and lost property value, plus a share of the profits the plant has helped generate.
A $20bn plant, and a state line
xAI poured more than $20bn into building the plant in Southaven, with the backing of Mississippi’s governor, Tate Reeves. Its gas turbines power data centres in and around the town, just across the state line from Memphis, where xAI’s Colossus supercomputer already runs a fleet of methane turbines that has drawn its own pollution complaints.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
xAI and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment, and Musk is not named as a defendant.
“Our homes are supposed to be a sanctuary for us against the world,” said Robert Wiygul, a lawyer for the residents. “When they are invaded by noise 24 hours a day, it takes that fundamental peace of a good and decent life away from us.”
The suit is the sharpest version yet of a fight spreading across the country. More than 70 cities and counties have passed bans or moratoriums on new data centres, Seattle’s council voted unanimously this week to pause them, and Nashville’s zoo is fighting a facility next door.
Behind the noise and the petitions sits a hard resource problem: US utilities plan to spend $1.4tn powering the AI boom, and the strain increasingly lands on the communities nearest the build.
It is also becoming a federal matter. The NAACP sued xAI in April over the same Memphis-area operations, alleging breaches of US environmental rules, and the Justice Department signalled last month that it may intervene, saying the dispute raises questions about the government’s role in AI infrastructure.
For Musk’s companies, the cost of building compute fast is starting to show up not just on the grid, but in court.
