This town’s minerals make A.I. possible. Then came Hurricane Helene. Kate Crawford is a professor at the University of Southern California, a senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research and the author of “Atlas of A.I.”

Spruce Pine, N.C., supplies the world’s highest-purity quartz, a mineral that keeps the A.I. revolution afloat. What are the consequences?

This town’s minerals make A.I. possible. Then came Hurricane Helene.