SZA Warns Of Dangers of AI Use & How It Harms Black & Brown Cities
SZA wants you to think very carefully about the consequences before asking Grok, or any other form of artificial intelligence, a question.
The Grammy Award-winning singer is currently the talk of the internet because Nicki Minaj has her social media crosshairs locked in on her. Still, SZA is doing her best to pay her no mind, focus on her performances during her joint tour with Kendrick Lamar, and warn her fans about the use of AI (artificial intelligence).
There is no escaping the buzz around AI, as it is being practically implemented into your everyday life, whether through your smartphone or on your favorite social media platform. Regardless, the “Snooze” singer is still wary of its dangers and feels you should be too.
On Tuesday, she took to her Instagram account to share a meme featuring The X-Files character Dana Scully saying, “Yeah, I use AI. Actual Imagination.”
In the caption for the post, SZA wrote, “AI is killing and polluting Black and Brown cities. None of you care ’cause [you’re] codependent on a machine. Have a great life,” per Billboard.
The TDE’s songstress’s warning about AI has truth behind it, as the push for artificial intelligence to become the norm is also fueling environmental racism.
AI requires a lot of electricity and water usage, and it’s already affecting vulnerable Black and Brown, immigrant, and low-income communities that are already dealing with a lack of those resources.
AI Use Is Already Affecting Black & Brown Communities
There is already a terrible example of that going on, thanks to Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI. The Guardian recently reported that a supercomputer set up in Memphis, Tennessee, by the company is already bringing pollution to the nearby historically Black neighborhoods, whose residents are already dealing with health issues like high cancer rates, asthma, and shortened life spans.
One of those communities, Boxton, is already suffering from poor air quality because of a nearby industrial plant.
According to the NAACP, those same residents are also inhaling toxic emissions from a facility that lacks the proper permits to operate.
Derrick Johnson, the NAACP’s president, told the New York Times, “We cannot afford to normalize this kind of environmental injustice, where billion-dollar companies set up polluting operations in Black neighborhoods without any permits and think they’ll get away with it.”
SZA is also well aware of those dangers, writing in a follow-up post in her IG Stories, “Please google how much energy and pollution it takes to run Ai. Please google the beautiful black cities like Memphis that are SUFFERING because of twitters new Ai system. PLEASE JUST GOOGLE ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM. AI doesn’t give a f**k if you live or die I promise. THERE IS A PRICE FOR CONVENIENCE AND BLACK AND BROWN [people] WILL PAY THE BRUNT OF IT EVERY-TIME.”
Shout-out to SZA for raising awareness about this growing issue.
