Hot off the press for Friday the 13th, this article in The Guardian intersects directly with [some comments from a thread here in the community from yesterday](https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1r3f0p5/big_techs_700b_ai_buildout_is_draining_aquifers/). Specifically in regards to xAI and how, as u/notislant sarcastically put it, "[\[g\]ood thing laws only apply to the poor](https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1r3f0p5/comment/o54rvko/)."

This is collapse related because we see how the gamble on AI in terms of its frantic infrastructure build-out is directly threatening the health of citizens, yet the agencies and institutions that are allegedly in place to protect them are playing a game of obfuscation, misdirection through deflection of responsibility, and plain old negligence.

Yet again we see how industry takes precedence over people *even when* there are supposed to be protective measures in place to prevent industry from harming the people that live in the wake of its operations. The collapse of civil society is accelerated when the obligation of government to work for its citizens is neglected and the capacity for the wealthy to shirk the rules is enabled and, it seems, encouraged.

‘A different set of rules’: thermal drone footage shows Musk’s AI power plant flouting clean air regulations | Mississippi