Montreal (Canada) (AFP) – British Columbia said Tuesday it was preparing a lawsuit against OpenAI over the company’s failure to report violent ChatGPT activity by the person who committed a mass school shooting in the western Canadian province.
OpenAI had banned an account linked to Jesse Van Rootselaar in June 2025, eight months before the 18-year-old transgender woman killed eight people at her home and a school in the tiny mining town of Tumbler Ridge. Canadian families impacted by the February shooting have already filed lawsuits against the US tech giant in a California court.
British Columbia said Tuesday it was preparing a separate case, in coordination with the families, and had retained lawyers both in Canada and California. Provincial Attorney General Niki Sharma told reporters that the province wanted to hold OpenAI and its decision-makers “accountable for their failure to notify law enforcement of the violent prompts made on its ChatGPT platform by the perpetrator prior to the tragedy in Tumbler Ridge.”
“British Columbia has never shied away from taking on powerful corporations when their actions cause harm to people and communities,” she added.
In April, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apologized to residents of Tumbler Ridge, saying in a public letter that he was “deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June.” “While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered,” Altman wrote.
Van Rootselaar killed her mother and brother at the family’s home before heading to the local secondary school, where she shot dead five children and a teacher. She died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after police entered the building.
© 2024 AFP
