The Register's podcast "The Kettle" devoted its latest episode to the environmental toll of the AI datacentre boom, prompted by host Brandon Vigliarolo experiencing hazardous wildfire smoke over the Great Lakes region, with air quality readings nearing double the top of the standard index. The episode connects worsening wildfires, which experts link to climate change, to tech firms increasingly relying on gas turbines to power AI datacentres instead of honouring earlier sustainability commitments, raising questions about whether the AI investment boom is worth its environmental cost.

Joining Vigliarolo and Register editor-in-chief Matt Rosoff was CNBC technology and climate reporter Lora Kolodny, who recently produced a documentary on xAI's Colossus datacentre in Memphis, Tennessee. Kolodny detailed how Elon Musk's xAI, now part of SpaceX, converted a former Electrolux factory into a datacentre in just 122 days in early 2024, partly by redirecting a $500 million Nvidia chip order originally intended for Tesla, while pursuing land deals through lesser-known subsidiary names with limited transparency to local residents, despite backing from the Memphis Chamber of Commerce.