{"id":102990,"date":"2026-07-12T04:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T04:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/102990\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T04:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T04:29:16","slug":"paws-against-the-machine-community-backs-humane-society-in-fight-against-ai-data-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/102990\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Paws Against the Machine\u2019: Community backs humane society in fight against AI data center"},"content":{"rendered":"

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC<\/a>) – The Greater Birmingham Humane Society (GBHS) has filed a lawsuit against Nebius<\/a>, the company building an AI data center<\/a> near the organization\u2019s property, saying it could not get answers about how the facility would affect the animals in its care.<\/p>\n

The suit was filed Friday in Jefferson County Circuit Court.<\/p>\n

Humane Society leaders say they have spent months asking Nebius how the AI factory, which they describe as operating on an industrial scale, will affect the animals housed nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are like a manufacturer of steel or clothing, they just manufacture intelligence. The equipment is of an industrial scale,\u201d said Allison Black Cornelius, President and CEO of the Greater Birmingham Humane Society.<\/p>\n

Leaders say low and high frequencies produced by the facility are a central concern<\/a>, noting that animals can hear ranges humans cannot.<\/p>\n

\"AA Jefferson County judge ruled Friday that a lawsuit filed by Oxmoor Valley residents against the Nebius data center under construction off Lakeshore Parkway can move forward.(WBRC)<\/p>\n

The organization also has plans to build a new hospital on the adjacent property, but said the uncertainty has already affected fundraising.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur donors that were giving to us to help us finish that, they just stopped and said, look, we\u2019re scared that this could be harmful,\u201d Cornelius said.<\/p>\n

Cornelius said GBHS reached out to Nebius when the company first purchased the land, but says meaningful communication never followed. She said the two sides eventually met once, but GBHS left with more concerns than it came in with.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to a point where it seems the only way we\u2019re probably going to get those answers is by a court intervening,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"LocationLocation of proposed Nebius data center in Birmingham(WBRC)What the lawsuit seeks<\/p>\n

The humane society said the suit is aimed at compelling Nebius<\/a> to answer its questions and to determine whether the project received proper legal approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just really asking a court to ask Nebius to follow the same exact rules and laws that we had to follow when we bought this land several years ago,\u201d Cornelius said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not sure we can coexist there if Nebius is there, but we won\u2019t know if we can\u2019t get that information,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"LakeshoreLakeshore Nebius data center construction(WBRC)Community response<\/p>\n

As the legal battle begins<\/a>, local businesses have rallied around the organization. Cahaba Brewing Co<\/a>. announced a beer called \u201cPaws Against the Machine,\u201d a peach sour with the tagline \u201csweet on animals, sour on AI factories.\u201d For the rest of the month, one dollar from every drink sold will go to the Greater Birmingham Humane Society.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

Nebius and the city of Birmingham<\/a> both said they do not comment on pending litigation. Separately, a judge ruled Friday that a lawsuit filed by Oxmoor Valley neighbors can move forward. The first hearing in that case is set for Tuesday at noon.<\/p>\n

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store<\/a> and Google Play Store<\/a> or subscribe to our email newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WBRC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The Greater Birmingham Humane Society (GBHS) has filed a lawsuit against Nebius, the company…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6686,6688,6691,6689,24,86,53459,53460,2320,25,2318,6683,6684,6685,6681,52052,85,53455,53458,6687,53456,6669,53461,6964,2325,2330,53457,53462,6692,2324,6675,6690,6673,12277,6670],"class_list":["post-102990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-abby","tag-abby-haymond","tag-abby-haymond-reporter","tag-abby-haymond-wbrc","tag-ai","tag-ai-data-center","tag-al","tag-ala","tag-alabama","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-birmingham","tag-birmingham-al","tag-birmingham-ala","tag-birmingham-alabama","tag-birmingham-data-center","tag-birmingham-data-centers","tag-data-center","tag-gbhs","tag-greater-birmingham-humane-society","tag-haymond","tag-humane-society","tag-lakeshore-parkway","tag-lakeshore-parkway-data-center","tag-lawsuit","tag-myfoxal","tag-nebius","tag-nebius-ai-data-center","tag-paws-against-the-machine","tag-reporter-abby-haymond","tag-wbrc","tag-wbrc-6-news","tag-wbrc-abby-haymond","tag-wbrc-fox-6-news","tag-wbrc-fox6-news","tag-wbrc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}