xAI offers to buy Mississippi homes if owners skip noise lawsuit

Real estate agents acting for Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, have been going door to door in Southaven, Mississippi. According to residents, they offer to buy homes as long as the owners agree not to join a lawsuit over noise from a nearby power plant. The Guardian reported the story.

What residents say is on offer

The offers center on Colonial Hills, a neighborhood on the western side of Southaven. A realtor told one resident the target is 418 homes, and that 18 owners had already agreed to sell. The Guardian heard a recording of that conversation. xAI did not answer questions about those numbers or its plans for the neighborhood.

The realtor and the local mayor say the homes would house xAI staff. The average house price in the area is about $180,000.

Why people are angry about the noise

The plant is a former Duke Energy site with 69 temporary gas turbines. Gas turbines are engines that burn gas to make electricity. They power nearby datacenters, which are large buildings full of computers that run AI systems. The Guardian reports the turbines were installed without permits.

Elizabeth Rose, a piano teacher who lives about two miles away, said it sounds like an airplane engine that never stops. She said it has woken her at 2am and 3am. Jason Haley, who has owned his home for 20 years, lives about half a mile away. He said he can barely sleep.

The lawsuit and xAI's response

Haley is one of three residents who sued in June. They describe "near-constant noise, vibrations and other nuisance-level harms." xAI denies all claims in the lawsuit. The company has said it intends to be a good neighbor and that it cares deeply about being good neighbors.

Mississippi's governor, Tate Reeves, has said that curbing datacenters would mean "surrendering the future of technology to China." Haley said that framing angered him.

The bigger picture

Since July 2024, xAI has built three large datacenters across Memphis, Tennessee, and Southaven. They are called Colossus I, Colossus II and Macrohardrr. Musk wants the world's largest cluster of AI supercomputers there to develop his Grok chatbot. xAI was folded into SpaceX in February.

What is not known yet

• Whether xAI will actually try to buy 418 homes. The company has not confirmed the number.
• The exact terms residents would sign, including any limits on joining the lawsuit.
• How the court will rule on the noise claims.