The Canadian province of British Columbia has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, over the Tumbler Ridge school shooter’s interactions with ChatGPT before the incident in February.
The suit was filed in a U.S. federal court on Monday, alleging OpenAI failed to inform authorities about 18-year-old Jessie Van Rootselaar’s interactions with the AI chatbot, despite knowing of the threats they posed. Survivors and families of victims had also filed suits in the same court.
Ms Rootselaar allegedly opened fire and killed six people, including five children and an educator, before dying by suicide in the secondary school she had attended, shortly after killing her mother and half-brother at their home.
Authorities described the mass shooting as the worst in Canada.
British Columbia attorney General Niki Sharma questioned “the responsibilities of technology companies when they become aware of credible threats of serious violence” and fail to inform law enforcement agencies.
“This action is an important step toward seeking justice for the families, students, educators and community members whose lives were forever changed,” Ms Sharma added.
In addition to seeking financial compensation for past and future emergency response and recovery efforts, the government also sought an overhaul of how OpenAI addresses users’ interactions with the chatbot involving threats of violence.
Mr Altman said in an open letter in April that the company was “deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement”, even though the safety team had flagged the shooter’s conversation.
But Ms Sharma said the company had yet to take “meaningful steps” to address concerns from families and survivors.
“The company still has an opportunity to demonstrate accountability by strengthening safeguards, improving transparency, and taking concrete action to help prevent similar tragedies in the future,” she stated.
