The Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) Board of Education on Tuesday voted to accept the in-kind gift offered by xAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) company founded by Elon Musk, which includes major upgrades to four high schools in the district.
According to the draft agreement offered by xAI, the company will provide in-kind contributions to upgrade John P. Freeman, Fairley, Mitchell, and Westwood high schools, with each of the facilities set to receive interior and exterior improvements to classrooms, hallways, restrooms, and athletic facilities.
The four schools will receive fresh paint in common areas, classrooms, and hallways, as well as new windows and modern lighting upgrades. They will also receive modernization to plumbing for restrooms, new HVAC units, and “[l]andscaping and beautification upgrades and modifications,” to their campuses.
Athletic facilities at the campuses will also receive new turf or natural grass, as well as new athletic tracks, scoreboards, weight equipment, indoor basketball courts, new lighting, and more landscaping.
The gift also includes new “specialized areas,” and reveals that xAI will foot the bill for new “chemistry and technology labs with associated materials and resources,” as well as new furniture, signage, audio-visual equipment, and lighting, for libraries, cafeterias, and auditoriums.
During the discussion during Tuesday’s board meeting, Action News 5 noted that some questioned whether the gift was transactional, as xAI seeks to build the world’s largest supercomputer in Memphis, and recently received regulatory approval to install permanent gas turbines for power generation.
Commissioner Michelle Robin McKissack told her colleagues that she met with xAI officials and came away from the meeting convinced the company was not merely seeking good publicity. She stated, “They genuinely care about our community and the children in the community.”
Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce Chief Government Affairs Officer Bobby White similarly told the board that even a transactional relationship helps Memphis students.
“If it’s transactional, it’s about making an investment in the district with an understanding that the district will provide the talent of individuals who can operate and be participants at the jobs we are building at this tech innovation hub that we developed,” argued White.
The company was recently threatened with a lawsuit over its facilities in Memphis, with the Southern Economic Law Center and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People claiming the company skirted federal regulations by installing temporary turbines and misstating the scope of their power generation.
Elsewhere in Tennessee, another of Musk’s companies, the Boring Company, is currently hiring staff to build its Music City Loop, a tunnel that will connect the Nashville International Airport with downtown Nashville.
Watch the full MSCS board meeting:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
