Three Mississippi residents living near the Tennessee border have filed a class action lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) company behind the conversational chatbot Grok, alleging the company has committed negligence and negligence per se while establishing dozens of natural gas turbines that have created a public and private nuisance.
Filed on Monday by three residents in the Northern District of Mississippi, and assigned to Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Debra Brown following the recusal of Bush-appointed Senior District Judge Michael Mills, the lawsuit seeks class certification, appointment of the plaintiffs as class representatives, judgment on their claims, and a jury trial.
Ultimately, the lawsuit claims xAI now operates nearly 60 turbines in what was previously a peaceful area. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for alleged loss of use and enjoyment of their property, diminished property values, nuisance-level physical harms caused by noise and vibrations, as well as for mental anguish, anxiety, emotional distress, and other, similar claims.
They also want the court to order xAI to disgorge the money gained from operating the power-generation facility, plus pay punitive damages. It also calls for the court to order the company to abate the alleged nuisance in a manner to be determined by expert, and to bar xAI from continuing its electricity-generating operations at its Southaven power plant.
Unlike the earlier lawsuit against xAI in Mississippi by the National Association Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which is a citizen suit under the Clean Air Act and asks the court to punish the company for permit violations, this lawsuit specifically alleges the turbines have resulted in noises and vibrations.
It also adds SpaceX as a defendant amid Musk’s plans to merge his space exploration and AI companies.
The plaintiffs are represented by Waltzer Wiygul Garside and Wild, which has a substantial background in environmental and public interest litigation. According to the firm’s website, two of its partners, Robert Wiygul and Joel Waltzer, began their careers with the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic and Sierra Club Legal Fund.
The firm appears to have worked alongside other environmental advocacy groups and law firms, including the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and Earthjustice. In addition to the Mississippi action, Waltzer Wiygul Garside and Wild are representing plaintiffs challenging the Trump administration over a land swap with SpaceX in Texas.
The legal pushback on the company’s attempts to generate its own electricity for AI comes despite President Donald Trump and his administration pushing more tech companies to follow xAI’s lead. Within days of entering office in 2025, reports emerged indicating the president planned to use emergency powers to fast track electric generation for AI.
Last July, Trump signed an executive order calling for “the expeditious and orderly development of data centers,” as well as “infrastructure that powers them, including high-voltage transmission lines and other equipment.”
The administration went further in March, when the White House released the “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” in which Trump called on the country’s top “hyperscalers and AI companies” to develop their own energy infrastructure.
“America’s continued economic and technological leadership depends on reliable, large-scale data center infrastructure built here at home,” announced the White House in a press release. “As that infrastructure grows and the related electricity demand increases, the American people should not be footing the bill for the benefit of private companies. Instead, the data center boom should be leveraged to address affordability and benefit all American households and businesses.”
The White House added, “President Trump is calling on the leading United States hyperscalers and AI companies to build, bring, or buy all of the energy needed for building and operating data centers, paying the full cost of their energy and infrastructure, no matter what.”
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
