xAI CoLOSSus Collages
Collages visualising the environmental impacts from Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer known as Colossus.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) designed to mimic human thinking, has costly effects on our environment. The datacentres used to house the power for AI are kept cool with unsustainable amounts of water, alongside using huge amounts of electricity and emitting greenhouse gases.
My collages are based around billionaire Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer “Colossus” in Memphis, Tennessee. Designed to power the AI chatbot Grok, the datacentre operates 33 methane gas turbines despite holding a permit for only 15. Poisoning its residents, a low-income black community, with nitrogen oxide and formaldehyde, two toxins linked to respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
xAI Colossus Collage 1.1
xAI Colossus Collage 1.2
In these collages I wanted to highlight how different collaging techniques can be used to communicate environmental science and climate issues. Inspired by Ben West (Picture Book) and Brandon Ballengée (The Frameworks of Absence) I used elements of presence and absence in the collages. Introducing the addition of anthropogenic structures, the xAI Colossus datacentre, and the removal of nature, water from images of the Mississippi River. This portrays the excessive land use of AI datacentres and the unsustainable amount of water needed to cool them. I also incorporated infamous images of Musk alongside unflattering news headlines regarding the datacentre.
Click here to read more about the process behind these collages and a deeper look into combining presence and absence in collage.