British Columbia sues OpenAI and Sam Altman, alleging ChatGPT warnings could have prevented school shooting

British Columbia has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, claiming that the company's AI, ChatGPT, could have prevented a school shooting in the province. According to the suit, filed in San Francisco federal court, OpenAI failed to report the shooter's violent conversations on the platform to authorities. The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI designed an unsafe product and acted negligently, seeking damages to aid recovery efforts following the February shooting at a Tumbler Ridge school.

The province seeks financial compensation for past and future expenses related to emergency response and community recovery, as well as a court order for OpenAI to improve its threat detection and response. Nine people, mostly children, were killed in the shooting, with the perpetrator, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, having previously been flagged by OpenAI's safety team but not reported to police because the conversations did not meet legal referral thresholds.

OpenAI's CEO, Altman, apologized in April for the company's failure to alert police, promising reforms that have yet to materialize, despite BC's attorney general's requests. The school where the shooting occurred is being demolished, while the province has had to cover costs for a replacement facility, mental health support, and other expenses.

Van Rootselaar's actions were first flagged by OpenAI in June 2025, with internal whistleblowers speaking to The Wall Street Journal about the incident. This is not the first legal action OpenAI has faced in connection with a mass shooting, as Florida also sued the company and Altman in June, alleging that ChatGPT contributed to real-world harms, including the 2025 Florida State University shooting.