{"id":904562,"date":"2026-09-21T21:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T21:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/904562\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T21:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T21:46:15","slug":"b-c-government-suing-openai-for-alleged-role-in-tumbler-ridge-mass-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/904562\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. government suing OpenAI for alleged role in Tumbler Ridge mass shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p>B.C.&#8217;s attorney general says the provincial government is suing OpenAI in California for its alleged role in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting in February.<\/p>\n<p>Niki Sharma made the announcement at a news conference Monday.<\/p>\n<p>She said the province is suing OpenAI for its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/openai-tumbler-ridge-shooter-ban-9.7100497\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">failure to notify law enforcement of threats<\/a> made on its platform, ChatGPT, before the mass shooting.<\/p>\n<p>It is also suing the company for designing an unsafe product, Sharma said. <\/p>\n<p>Six children and two adults were killed in the shooting on Feb. 10. The 18-year-old shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We owe it to the families, survivors, and everyone whose life was changed by this tragedy, to get answers and accountability,&#8221; Sharma said.<\/p>\n<p>OpenAI said in an emailed statement that the events of Tumbler Ridge were an unspeakable tragedy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our thoughts remain with the victims, their families, and the entire community,&#8221; said the statement. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;OpenAI remains committed to working collaboratively with government and law enforcement officials, and continuing to advance our ongoing safety work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>B.C.&#8217;s lawsuit comes in the wake of victims filing multiple civil claims of their own against OpenAI, also in California, where the company is headquartered.<\/p>\n<p>Sharma said the conversation between OpenAI&#8217;s ChatGPT and the shooter was alarming enough that it triggered an internal review, but that it was not reported to RCMP.<\/p>\n<p>She said she has not read that conversation herself.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have asked OpenAI to disclose these chats. They have refused. We should all be asking them: Why?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sharma said the decision not to report the chats happened in California, which is one reason the province filed the lawsuit there.<\/p>\n<p>The province is working closely with the affected families and the school district, according to Sharma, but she noted the families&#8217; and victims&#8217; lawsuits are separate from what the province is pursuing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our focus is on the losses that the province suffered as a result of the conduct and harm, so the basis for our claim for damages is quite different,&#8221; Sharma said.<\/p>\n<p>She said the province is seeking reimbursement for the building of a new Tumbler Ridge school. The old one was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/tumbler-ridge-school-demolition-new-building-memorial-plans-9.7310968\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">demolished in the wake of the tragedy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":904563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-904562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}