One industry polluted this town. Now the city is betting on AI.

For decades, Dalton, Georgia, proudly called itself the "Carpet Capital of the World" — until the costs of relying on a single industry became impossible to ignore. As the town continues to reckon with the long‑term impacts tied to its carpet boom today, city officials have also been searching for what comes next. Enter Core Scientific, a massive tech company that arrived as a bitcoin miner, went bankrupt, and is now pivoting to AI and data center infrastructure. Local leaders see opportunity, while many residents worry about risk, accountability and what history might repeat. This episode of "Curiosities of the South" explores a major manufacturing city in northwest Georgia caught between its past and a high‑stakes future. To learn more about how Dalton got here, watch the full episode on May 19 on AJC Youtube.