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The B.C. government has retained counsel to pursue legal action against OpenAI for the role it alleges the company played in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Feb. 10, a shooter killed her mother and half-brother, then went to the local secondary school and killed five children, aged 12 and 13, and an educator. The 18-year-old shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police.<\/p>\n On Tuesday morning, Attorney General Niki Sharma told media the province owes it to the community to prevent something like this from happening again. <\/p>\n “The events of Feb. 10 will forever remain a dark chapter in our province’s history,” she said.<\/p>\n She said the company failed to notify law enforcement of violent prompts the shooter made on OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform ahead of the tragedy. <\/p>\n “I think we were all shocked when we heard that there might have been an opportunity to prevent the loss of life,” Sharma said.<\/p>\n “These tools, AI and the risk that they pose to the public, it’s our responsibility now as a government to make sure that actors that are putting these risks and these harms to the public are accountable.”<\/p>\n Families taking OpenAI to court<\/p>\n In April, families of the victims announced they were taking OpenAI and its co-founder Sam Altman to court<\/a> in California “to pursue landmark damage awards.”<\/p>\n Their lawyers said in a news release that the Tumbler Ridge shooter’s ChatGPT account was banned for “disturbing content,” which allegedly included planning violent scenarios, prior to the February tragedy.<\/p>\n OpenAI has said it banned the account<\/a> associated with the shooter in June 2025, but that the content didn’t meet the threshold to report it to authorities. <\/p>\n A letter of apology from Altman was published in the local Tumbler Ridge newspaper<\/a>, Tumbler RidgeLines, on April 24<\/a>. In it, Altman said he was “deeply sorry” the company did not alert law enforcement about the shooter’s account. <\/p>\n Sharma says the province is in the early stages of the legal process, adding that while the timeline on legal action is unclear, she is committed to keeping the public informed as the case progresses. <\/p>\n The province has retained CFM Lawyers in Vancouver, as well as law firm Stranch, Jennings & Garvey, based in California, where OpenAI is head-quartered. <\/p>\n “We will pursue every available avenue to hold OpenAI and its decision-makers accountable because no company or corporate leader should be beyond scrutiny when public safety is at stake,” Sharma said. <\/p>\n She said legal action is also intended to secure financial support for “community rebuilding efforts, including the construction of a new Tumbler Ridge school facility.”<\/p>\n Premier David Eby announced in May that Tumbler Ridge Secondary, where the shooting occurred, would be torn down<\/a> so that a new structure could be built in its place. In June, the federal government committed $200 million<\/a>toward an updated health centre and the new school. <\/p>\n Provincial record<\/p>\n As Sharma pointed out, the province has a history of taking corporations to court \u2014 and prevailing. <\/p>\n B.C. is receiving about $3.7 billion over 18 years as part of a settlement between big tobacco companies and Canadian provinces<\/a>. That money, the province has said, will be used to invest in cancer treatment and research. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783450933_33_default.jpg\")
B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma is pictured in Vancouver on Friday, March 28, 2025. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)<\/p>\n