British Columbia to sue OpenAI over ChatGPT messages
The Canadian province of British Columbia is preparing legal action against AI giant OpenAI, accusing the company of failing to alert police about violent messages posted on ChatGPT by the perpetrator of the February mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, AFP reports.
British Columbia, where the attack took place, "is preparing legal action to hold artificial intelligence company OpenAI and its leadership accountable for failing to notify law enforcement," Niki Sharma, the provincial government's attorney general, told reporters, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.
She added that the province has retained lawyers both in British Columbia and California "to ensure that we can pursue the case against the company's headquarters if necessary."
"We owe this to the victims, their families, and everyone whose lives were shattered by this tragedy," Sharma said, acknowledging that the legal process "will take a long time."
On February 10, a transgender woman from the town of Tumbler Ridge killed her mother and stepbrother before going to her former middle school, where she fatally shot five children aged 12 and 13, along with a 39-year-old teacher.
The attacker, Jesse Van Rootselaar, later died by suicide. She had a history of mental health issues, and police had visited the family's home on several occasions.
The attack deeply shocked Canada, a country bordering the United States but unaccustomed to mass shootings of this scale.
OpenAI has faced sharp criticism over ChatGPT's role in the case, particularly for failing to alert police despite the violent messages posted by the attacker. Company executives were summoned to Ottawa to explain the platform's safety protocols.
OpenAI said it identified an account linked to the attacker in June 2025 and suspended it. However, it did not notify Canadian law enforcement.
The company defended its decision by stating that the account did not meet the threshold for triggering such an alert because the content did not indicate that preparations for an attack were credible or imminent.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apologized to the community of Tumbler Ridge in April, saying he was "deeply sorry" that the company had failed to notify police in this case.
Photo: Chat GPT
