{"id":857073,"date":"2026-09-22T22:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T22:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/857073\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T22:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T22:14:09","slug":"british-columbia-sues-openai-and-sam-altman-over-tumbler-ridge-mass-school-shooting-openai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/857073\/","title":{"rendered":"British Columbia sues OpenAI and Sam Altman over Tumbler Ridge mass school shooting | OpenAI"},"content":{"rendered":"

British Columbia has sued OpenAI<\/a>, saying a mass shooting at a school in the Canadian province could have been prevented if the company had warned local \u2060law enforcement that the shooter \u2060had used ChatGPT to \u200bplan the attack.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco<\/a> federal court on Monday, names OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman<\/a>, as defendants. It is seeking damages to fund recovery efforts in the province after the February attack, as well as an order directing changes to the way the company handles ChatGPT conversations that could lead to violence.<\/p>\n

Nine people, primarily children, were killed in the school shooting in Tumbler Ridge<\/a>, British Columbia. The shooter, Jesse Van \u2060Rootselaar, had been flagged by the company\u2019s safety team after her conversations about gun violence, but the company did not alert police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of Tumbler Ridge have endured an unimaginable loss, and they deserve answers and accountability,\u201d said Niki Sharma, British Columbia\u2019s attorney general, in a statement this week on the suit.<\/p>\n

AI companies are facing increasing scrutiny over how their products may lead to a range of harms from cyberattacks and disinformation to facilitating violence and worsening mental health. OpenAI is also facing lawsuits from family members of victims in the British Columbia mass shooting, as well as the family of a victim in a Florida State University shooting<\/a> from earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Altman published a letter in April \u200bto the community in Tumbler Ridge saying he was \u201cdeeply sorry\u201d<\/a> OpenAI had not contacted \u200claw enforcement. He promised reforms, but never \u200cfollowed through, despite efforts from British Columbia\u2019s attorney general to engage, the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n

The school where the shooting took place is in the process of being \u200cdemolished<\/a>, and the province has been forced to absorb the costs of a replacement school, mental health care and other effects of the shooting, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

One survivor, Maya Gebala, recovered from being shot three times<\/a>, including in the skull. She suffered catastrophic brain injuries and permanent disabilities from the attack, according to court documents. Gebala\u2019s family has documented her life since the shooting in online posts, including sharing images of her celebrating her 13th birthday this week.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for OpenAI<\/a>, Drew Pusateri, called the Tumbler Ridge shooting an unspeakable tragedy. \u201cOpenAI remains committed to working collaboratively with government and law enforcement officials, and continuing to advance our ongoing safety work.\u201d<\/p>\n

British Columbia alleges that OpenAI has failed to take proper accountability and action for the killing, however, with Sharma stating that the company must strengthen its safeguards and increase transparency on its products.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo date, OpenAI has not taken meaningful steps to address the concerns raised by survivors, families and the Tumbler Ridge community,\u201d the attorney general said.<\/p>\n

The province\u2019s lawsuit comes after more than 30 family members of victims and others affected by the attack filed lawsuits<\/a> in California, accusing the company of opting out of a chance to prevent \u200cthe shooting.<\/p>\n

Van Rootselaar shot her mother and stepbrother at home before killing an educational assistant and five students aged 12 and 13 at her former school on 10 February, according to police. Van Rootselaar, who was 18, then died by \u200bsuicide.<\/p>\n

The incident, one of the worst mass shootings<\/a> in Canada\u2019s history, devastated the small northern mining town and shocked the country. It also prompted Canadian officials to call in OpenAI executives for questioning<\/a>, as well as resulted in a call between Canada\u2019s AI minister, Evan Solomon, and Altman.<\/p>\n

Van Rootselaar\u2019s interactions with ChatGPT were first flagged by the company<\/a> in June 2025. Safety team members recommended contacting police, but Altman and other OpenAI leadership overruled them, the lawsuit says, citing OpenAI whistleblowers who spoke to the Wall Street Journal in the wake of the shooting.<\/p>\n

The shooter\u2019s account was deactivated, but she was able to get a new account and continue using the platform to plan her attack.<\/p>\n

After publication of the Wall Street Journal article, the company said the \u2060account was flagged by systems that identify \u201cmisuses of our models in furtherance of violent activities\u201d, but the issues did \u200bnot meet its internal criteria for reporting to law \u200benforcement.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit comes after a series of \u200bcases against OpenAI have been filed in US state and federal courts in recent months over claims ChatGPT<\/a> facilitated violence, \u200bincluding lawsuits related to a mass \u200cshooting at Florida State \u200bUniversity last year.<\/p>\n

In June, Florida became the \u200bfirst state to sue OpenAI over safety risks, accusing the company of misrepresenting the safety of its ChatGPT platform, which the lawsuit said had harmed children by providing information to school shooters, offering guidance on self-harm and addicting young users.<\/p>\n

OpenAI, which has denied the claims, has said it trains its models to refuse requests that could \u201cmeaningfully enable violence\u201d, and notifies law enforcement when conversations suggest \u201can imminent and credible risk of harm to others\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Columbia has sued OpenAI, saying a mass shooting at a school in the Canadian province could have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-857073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}