Technology
OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits over response to Canadian mass shooter's ChatGPT account
Plaintiffs allege OpenAI executives prioritized public relations over safety by ignoring internal recommendations to report the Tumbler Ridge shooter to police, which OpenAI denies.
The short version
- Thirty survivors and staff from the February 2026 Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, school shooting filed lawsuits in San Francisco federal court against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman.
- The lawsuits allege OpenAI's global affairs team overruled safety staff recommendations to alert Canadian police after the shooter's ChatGPT account was flagged for gun violence planning in June 2025.
- OpenAI denied the allegations, stating that chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane was not involved in the referral process and maintaining that safety teams prioritize user protection.
- The lawsuits join more than 30 other cases seeking to hold AI companies legally liable for real-world violence and self-harm linked to chatbot interactions.
Key facts
- Thirty new complaints were filed against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman in a San Francisco federal court by students, teachers, and a principal present at the Tumbler Ridge school shooting.[NPR]
- The lawsuits allege that OpenAI's safety team determined the shooter's conversations posed a credible threat and recommended contacting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but the global affairs team overruled them.[NPR]
- The February 2026 shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, resulted in the deaths of five students, a teacher, and the shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, who also killed her mother and half-brother prior to the school attack.[NPR]
- OpenAI deactivated Van Rootselaar's initial account after automated systems flagged it in June 2025, but she opened a second account that the company stated it did not discover until after the shooting.[NPR]
- OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon rejected the lawsuit's claims, stating Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane had no role in the referral decision and that internal investigators do not report to him.[NPR]
What remains uncertain
- Whether OpenAI's executive leadership or global affairs division directly intervened to stop safety investigators from contacting law enforcement remains disputed between the plaintiffs and OpenAI.[NPR]