British Columbia sues OpenAI over school shooting

The government of British Columbia filed a lawsuit Monday in California against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging the company failed to warn law enforcement about violent threats made on ChatGPT before a mass shooting that killed eight people in the rural mining town of Tumbler Ridge earlier this year.france24+1

Attorney General Niki Sharma announced the legal action at a news conference, saying the province is seeking "accountability and change" from OpenAI. The suit accuses the company of designing an unsafe product and of negligence for not escalating concerns about the suspect's chatbot interactions to police, despite an internal review that flagged the account.cbc+1

What the Province Alleges

On Feb. 10, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother and brother at the family home before heading to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where she fatally shot five children and a teacher. She died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after police entered the building. The massacre was one of Canada's worst mass shootings.france24

OpenAI had internally flagged and banned one of Van Rootselaar's accounts for concerning activity in 2025 but did not report it to the RCMP. The company has said it saw no evidence of an imminent attack at the time and chose not to escalate the matter, though it has acknowledged that under updated security guidelines imposed after June 2025, the account would have been reported to police.news.bloomberglaw+2

Sharma said the province has asked OpenAI to disclose the ChatGPT conversations but that the company has refused. "We should all be asking them: Why?" she said.cbc

A Growing Legal Battle

The provincial lawsuit follows multiple civil claims already filed by Tumbler Ridge families against OpenAI in California. OpenAI has moved to dismiss those family lawsuits, arguing that legal actions related to the shootings should be heard in British Columbia. Sharma said the province filed in California because "the decision not to report happened in California".france24+1

Lawyers for the families have alleged that OpenAI stayed silent about Van Rootselaar's account because "reporting one case would mean reporting thousands," and that when an account is shut down for dangerous behavior, OpenAI instructs users on how to resume service, including tips to circumvent the 30-day suspension period.france24

In April, Altman apologized to Tumbler Ridge residents in a public letter, saying he was "deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June". Sharma said any settlement funds would be devoted in part to building a new school in Tumbler Ridge, after the original was demolished following the tragedy.cbc+1