Topline
Canadian province of British Columbia sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman in a U.S. federal court on Monday, alleging that the company failed to flag authorities about the violent ChatGPT interactions of an 18-year-old perpetrator of one of the country’s deadliest-ever school shootings that occurred in February.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his wife Diana Fox Carney carry flowers as they arrive to visit a makeshift memorial for the victims of a February 10 deadly mass shooting took place at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
In a filing made in federal district court in San Francisco, the suit alleged that OpenAI failed to notify authorities about the contents of the shooter’s chats despite it being flagged by its human review team.
The Canadian province alleges that OpenAI’s automated monitoring system flagged the shooter’s account to its human review team, which focuses on “users who may be planning to commit acts of violence” in June 2025.
The suit noted that despite the review team recommending a referral to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, OpenAI’s leadership “rejected that recommendation” and simply deactivated the account without notifying anyone outside the company.
The province cites a report published by The Wall Street Journal days after the shooting, where anonymous whistleblowers flagged this issue and argues that without it no one would have known the “role that OpenAI and its defective product played” in the shooting.
The suit argues that one telephone call from OpenAI to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police “could have prevented the tragedy.”
What Do We Know About The Shooting?
The shooting took place in February in the small Canadian town of Tumbler Ridge. The suspected shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, killed her mother and half-brother at their home before killing six at the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and injuring at least 25 others. The six victims at the school included five students aged between 12 and 13, and an education assistant. The shooter was also found dead with what was believed to be a self-inflicted wound. The incident was one of the deadliest school shootings in Canada’s history.
What Did OpenAI Say After The Shooting?
In April, Altman apologized to the Tumbler Ridge community in a note published in the local newsletter Tumbler Ridgelines. Altman wrote: “The pain your community has endured is unimaginable. I have been thinking of you often over the past few months.” The OpenAI CEO said he had spoken with the town’s mayor and the Premier of British Columbia, David Eby and they “conveyed the anger, sadness, and concern being felt across Tumbler Ridge.” Altman added: “I want to express my deepest condolences to the entire community. No one should ever have to endure a tragedy like this. I cannot imagine anything worse in this world than losing a child…I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June.”
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