British Columbia sued OpenAI after the Tumbler Ridge shooting

Jessie Van Rootselaar entered the Tumbler Ridge school with a gun in February and killed eight people, including six children.

The 18-year-old's media revealed that Van Rootselaar's unusual conversations with the ChatGPT language model were noticed by OpenAI's security team due to their discussion of gun violence.

OpenAI employees detected this dangerous activity several months before the attack, but the company did not notify local services about it.

This is what is causing the lawsuit.

British Columbia accuses OpenAI of negligence.

British Columbia Attorney General Niki Sharma said the lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. federal court, raises the issue of "technology companies' liability when they become aware of credible threats of serious violence."

The families of those killed or injured in the shooting have filed separate lawsuits against OpenAI.

In April, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apologized to the victims' families.

“I am very sorry that we did not notify law enforcement,” Altman wrote in an open letter.

The BBC has asked OpenAI for comment on the latest lawsuit, but OpenAI has remained silent for now.

“To date, OpenAI has not taken any significant steps to address the concerns raised by survivors, victims' families, and the Tumbler Ridge community,” Sharma said in a statement.

“The company still has an opportunity to demonstrate responsibility by strengthening security, improving transparency and taking concrete actions to help prevent similar tragedies in the future,” she said.

On Monday, in a conversation with journalists, Sharma said that she was not familiar with the content of the talks conducted by OpenAI.

We asked OpenAI to disclose these conversations.

They refused.

We should all ask them: why? – she assessed.

Sharma said the lawsuit was filed in California because the alleged decision not to report the 18-year-old's ChatGPT account took place in that US state.

The province wants to use any financial compensation to rebuild the school where the tragedy occurred.