OpenAI is facing 30 new lawsuits from victims of the devastating school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, who accuse the company of providing “substantial assistance and encouragement” to the shooter and failing to alert police about her alarming ChatGPT interactions during the run-up to the mass killing.
The AI company’s legal peril is growing: it’s now fighting more than 50 lawsuits alleging that extensive use of its flagship chatbot, ChatGPT, wrought psychological harm, physical injury, or even death on users or those around them.
The new lawsuits were brought against OpenAI by teachers and students who survived the Tumbler Ridge Massacre in February, in which eight adults and children were killed and 27 more were wounded in a rural Canadian mining town. The shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, fatally shot her mother and younger stepbrother at their home before attacking the school with a modified rifle and long gun, where she murdered five students — all aged between 12 and 13 — and a teacher.
Shortly after the shooting, The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI, months before the shooting occurred, had considered warning local law enforcement about Van Rootselaar’s disturbing conversations with ChatGPT, which contained graphic descriptions of mass violence. After an internal debate, OpenAI leaders opted not to alert local officials. Instead, it deactivated Van Rootselaar’s account, though the eventual shooter simply made a new one.
