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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Canadian families impacted by the February shooting have already filed lawsuits against the US tech giant in a California court.<\/p>\n
British Columbia said Tuesday it was preparing a separate case, in coordination with the families, and had retained lawyers both in Canada and California.<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
“British Columbia has never shied away from taking on powerful corporations when their actions cause harm to people and communities,” she added.<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after police entered the building.<\/p>\n
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