DDG has consulted Grok about why he has haters.
The streamer hopped on X and tagged the artificial intelligence — from the xAI company — that’s integrated into the platform itself, writing, “Man how the fuck do you be having all the answers?”
Once it responded to him by introducing itself and saying that it’s “designed to reason step-by-step and pull from vast knowledge,” the streamer took the opportunity to ask if it knows the answers for why people don’t like him.
“Okay bet,” wrote DDG. “Why do these folks be hating on me so bad. Is it because I’m handsome? Please I need answers.
“Haha, could be the handsome factor sparking some jealousy!” reads the response from Grok. “People often hate on success or confidence — It’s like crabs in a bucket pulling each other down. Or maybe it’s just misplaced energy. Either way, keep shining!”
Though DDG and Grok’s interaction was innocent, the real-life impacts of the AI are anything but. Back in May, Politico reported on the 35 methane gas turbines in South Memphis that power xAI’s supercomputer and are creating smog in the area.
Back then, the company had become one of Shelby County’s largest emitters of smog-producing nitrogen oxides and had only been in Memphis for eight months. According to calculations by the Southern Environmental Law Center, the turbines spew out 1,200 to 2,000 tons of nitrogen oxides per year.
In the Boxtown area where the company is near, its citizens have complained about just how bad the air quality is because of the smog. “I can’t breathe at home, it smells like gas outside,” said Boxtown resident Alexis Humphreys at a public hearing about the turbines in April. “How come I can’t breathe at home and y’all get to breathe at home?”
In June, the NAACP announced its intent to bring a lawsuit under the Clean Air Act against xAI.
“We cannot afford to normalize this kind of environmental injustice — where billion-dollar companies set up polluting operations in Black neighborhoods without any permits and think they’ll get away with it because the people don’t have the power to fight back,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “We will not allow xAI to get away with this.”