At a Glance
- xAI engineer Sulaiman Ghori revealed the company used temporary carnival-style permits to fast-track its Colossus supercomputer in Memphis
- The 122-day build relied on 35 unpermitted methane turbines the EPA ruled illegal
- Ghori left xAI days after describing AI agents replacing human teams on the Relentless podcast
- Why it matters: The disclosures spotlight regulatory shortcuts and rapid staff exits at Elon Musk’s AI startup
Sulaiman Ghori, an engineer who joined Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI less than a year ago, appeared on the podcast Relentless last week to outline how the company raced to assemble its flagship Colossus supercomputer. Within days he was gone, and insiders believe the exit was a firing triggered by the candid conversation.
Temporary Permits for a Permanent Data Center
Ghori told host Alex Lieberman that xAI secured the Memphis site under short-term leases normally reserved for transient events: “The lease for the land itself was actually technically temporary. It was the fastest way to get the permitting through and actually start building things.”
He added:
- Permits were written to “modify this ground temporarily”
- Local and state officials treated the process like approvals for “carnivals”
- The company expects the paperwork to convert to permanent status “at some point”
The maneuver let construction begin immediately, shaving months off a conventional approval timeline.
Turbines Without Permission
Colossus had already drawn scrutiny. xAI promotes the facility as proof it can build at Silicon Valley speed-122 days from groundbreaking to powering up. Yet the haste relied on 35 methane-gas turbines that, according to agency records, lacked operating permits.
Even the Trump-appointed Environmental Protection Agency declared the generators illegal. Residents complained of sharp increases in air pollution once the turbines began running, a situation the EPA confirmed in violation notices.
AI Agents Doing Human Jobs
Beyond construction shortcuts, Ghori sketched an internal culture that delegates core engineering to software. “Right now, we’re doing a big rebuild of our core production APIs. It’s being done by one person with like 20 agents,” he said. “And they’re very good, and they’re capable of doing it, and it’s working well.”
The setup can confuse staff:
- Org-chart notifications list virtual contributors as employees
- Ghori has received pings asking whether “this guy” was in the office
- “It’s an AI. It’s a virtual employee,” he explained
Supply Chain Disruption
The interview aired as xAI was scrambling to replace model access it lost days earlier. Tech reporter Kylie Robison revealed that rival startup Anthropic revoked xAI’s privileges to use its Claude model. Internal notes from cofounder Tony Wu warned the cutoff would “cause a hit on productivity” and urged engineers to “try all different kinds of models” to keep coding velocity high.
Ghori’s comments therefore offered a window into both the company’s regulatory approach and its technical workaround for the sudden gap in training resources.
Departures Pile Up
Ghori promoted his team in public posts shortly before the podcast dropped. Then he vanished from xAI’s Slack and internal directories. Neither Elon Musk nor xAI has disputed the substance of the Relentless interview, a silence observers note is unusual given Musk’s tendency to counter negative press online.
The timing is awkward: one day after Ghori’s departure, cofounder Greg Yang announced he was stepping away to battle Lyme disease. Yang’s exit is not linked to Ghori, yet it continues a pattern:
- Cofounders Igor Babuschkin and Christian Szegedy left in 2023
- Bloomberg has tallied at least four high-profile departures in less than a year
Legal Clouds Ahead
xAI faces pressure on multiple fronts:
| Issue | Status |
|---|---|
| Memphis turbines | EPA violation notices, no resolution announced |
| Temporary land leases | Convert-or-remove deadline unclear |
| Grok “undressing” controversy | Regulatory inquiries pending |
| Staff exodus | Four cofounders gone since launch |
The company has not released a public timeline for bringing Colossus into full compliance, nor has it detailed how it will replace the training capacity lost when Anthropic cut access.
Key Takeaways
- xAI’s flagship supercomputer was built on permits designed for traveling fairs, according to a now-departed engineer
- The facility ran 35 unpermitted gas turbines, prompting EPA action
- Internal workflows lean heavily on AI agents, sometimes creating staff confusion
- The startup has lost four cofounders and at least one senior engineer in under twelve months
- Regulatory scrutiny is mounting as local, state, and federal agencies examine the data center’s paperwork and pollution record
