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By Ryan Patrick Jones and Diana Novak Jones<\/p>\n
April 29 (Reuters) – Family members of victims of one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman in U.S. court on Wednesday, alleging the company identified the shooter as a credible threat eight months before the attack but did not warn police.<\/p>\n
The \u200clawsuits, filed in federal court in San Francisco, accuse OpenAI leaders of not alerting police because it would have exposed the volume of violence-related conversations on ChatGPT and \u200cpotentially jeopardized the company’s path to a nearly $1 trillion initial public offering.<\/p>\n
The February shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia left nine people dead, many of them children.<\/p>\n
An OpenAI spokesperson called the shooting \u201ca tragedy” and said the company has a zero-tolerance \u200bpolicy for using its tools to assist in committing violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we shared with Canadian officials, we have already strengthened our safeguards, including improving how ChatGPT responds to signs of distress, connecting people with local support and mental health resources, strengthening how we assess and escalate potential threats of violence, and improving detection of repeat policy violators,\u201d the spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The cases are part of a growing wave of lawsuits accusing artificial intelligence companies of failing to prevent chatbot interactions that plaintiffs say contribute to self-harm, mental illness and violence. They appear to be the first in the U.S. to \u200callege that ChatGPT played a role in facilitating a mass shooting.<\/p>\n
Jay Edelson, \u2060who is representing the plaintiffs, said he plans to file another two dozen lawsuits in the coming weeks against the company on behalf of other people impacted by the shooting.<\/p>\n
LAWSUITS CLAIM OPENAI SAFETY TEAM OVERRULED<\/p>\n
Jesse Van Rootselaar, whose interactions with ChatGPT are at the center of the lawsuits, shot \u2060her mother and stepbrother at home before killing an educational assistant and five students aged 12 to 13 at her former school on February 10, according to police. Van Rootselaar, who was 18, then died by suicide.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs include relatives of those killed at the school and a 12-year-old girl who survived after being shot three times but remains in intensive care.<\/p>\n
According to one of the complaints, OpenAI’s automated systems in \u200bJune \u200b2025 flagged ChatGPT conversations in which the shooter described gun violence scenarios.<\/p>\n
Safety team members recommended contacting the police after \u200bconcluding she posed a credible and imminent threat of harm, said the \u200ccomplaint, which cites a Wall Street Journal article from February about the company’s internal discussions.<\/p>\n
But Altman and other OpenAI leadership overruled the safety team and police were never called, the lawsuit alleges. The shooter’s account was deactivated, but she was able to get a new account and continue using the platform to plan her attack, the lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n
Following the publication of the Wall Street Journal article, the company said the account was flagged by systems that identify “misuses of our models in furtherance of violent activities” but the issues did not meet its internal criteria for reporting to law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Last week, a local Tumbler Ridge newspaper published an open letter in which Altman said he was “deeply sorry” the account was not flagged to law enforcement.<\/p>\n
In a blog published Tuesday, OpenAI \u200csaid it trains its models to refuse requests that could “meaningfully enable violence,” and notifies law enforcement when conversations \u200bsuggest “an imminent and credible risk of harm to others,” with mental health experts helping assess borderline cases. The company \u200bsaid it continually refines its models and detection methods based on usage and expert input.<\/p>\n
The \u200blawsuits seek an unspecified amount of damages and a court order requiring OpenAI to overhaul its safety practices, including mandatory law enforcement referral protocols. One \u200cof the victims originally filed her lawsuit in Canadian court but dismissed \u200bit to pursue her claims in California, Edelson \u200bsaid.<\/p>\n
OPENAI FACES MULTIPLE SUITS<\/p>\n
The lawsuits over the Tumbler Ridge shooting come after multiple lawsuits against OpenAI have been filed in U.S. state and federal court in recent months over claims ChatGPT facilitated harmful behavior, suicide, and, in at least one case, a murder-suicide.<\/p>\n
The lawsuits, which are still in early phases, will force courts to grapple with what role an \u200bAI platform can play in promoting violence and whether the company \u200ccan be held liable for its actions or the actions of its users.<\/p>\n
OpenAI has denied the claims in the lawsuits, arguing in the murder-suicide case that the perpetrator \u200bhad a long history of mental illness.<\/p>\n
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced earlier this month a criminal investigation into ChatGPT’s role in a 2025 shooting at Florida State \u200bUniversity.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones and Diana Novak Jones, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Lincoln Feast.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n