Musk's xAI burns fossil fuels for Grok chatbot while selling compute to Anthropic, contradicting solar energy advocacy
By
Fred Lambert
Crackling crust, pillowy middle. The kind of bagel that earns a second cup of coffee.
Summary
Elon Musk's public advocacy for solar energy starkly contrasts with his current business practices. His AI company xAI is burning fossil fuels to power the Grok chatbot, which has lost 60% of its downloads. xAI is also selling unused computing capacity to Anthropic — a company Musk previously called "misanthropic and evil." Meanwhile, Musk is pitching space-based solar panels as SpaceX reportedly files for a $2 trillion IPO, highlighting a series of contradictions between his stated environmental vision and actual operations.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThe contradictions are stacking up faster than xAI's unpermitted gas turbines.
Musk spent years telling the world that solar power was the obvious answer to Earth's energy needs — that a small patch of desert could power the entire United States.
Now, he's burning millions of tons of fossil fuels to run an AI chatbot that has lost 60% of its downloads, selling the unused compute to a company he called 'misanthropic and evil' three months ago.
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