The British Columbia government has launched a lawsuit against OpenAI in California, alleging the artificial intelligence company failed to alert police about troubling interactions between ChatGPT and the person responsible for the February mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge.
Attorney General Niki Sharma announced the court action Monday, saying the province is seeking accountability from OpenAI and its senior decision-makers while also pursuing compensation for costs tied to the shooting that left eight victims dead.
Among those killed were five students at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, an educational assistant, and the shooter's mother and brother.
Province alleges OpenAI failed to report concerns
Sharma said OpenAI was aware of alarming conversations between ChatGPT and 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar before the attack, but never alerted the RCMP.
"OpenAI has confirmed that the conversation between ChatGPT and the shooter was so alarming that it triggered an internal review by OpenAI employees," she said. "This threat was not reported to the RCMP and was subsequently dismissed."
The province says it has requested access to the conversations between Van Rootselaar and ChatGPT, but OpenAI has not provided them.
"We should all be asking them why," Sharma said. "We know in similar cases, AI chatbots have been found to have counselled the person to conduct the crime."
The lawsuit argues that a report to police could have made a difference because RCMP officers had previous interactions with Van Rootselaar, including attending the family home over mental health concerns and removing firearms in the past.
"A warning from OpenAI would have reached an RCMP that already engaged with Van Rootselaar; had visited their residence in response to mental health concerns; and had removed firearms" from the home in the past, the lawsuit says.
Details of the February attack
The shooting unfolded on Feb. 10 when Van Rootselaar allegedly killed her mother and brother at the family home before going to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
Five students, aged 12 and 13, and an educational assistant were fatally shot. Van Rootselaar then died by suicide.
Survivors and witnesses, including students and staff at the school, have also filed separate lawsuits against OpenAI.
OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman previously said he was "deeply sorry" the company did not contact authorities, and noted the shooter's account had been banned in 2025.
However, B.C.'s lawsuit alleges the company merely deactivated the account rather than imposing a full user-level ban. The claim says Van Rootselaar continued using ChatGPT through a second account in the lead-up to the killings.
According to the lawsuit, deactivation without stronger safeguards or monitoring effectively "re-entrusted" ChatGPT to a user whom the company knew had engaged in discussions involving gun violence and whom its safety team had identified as a real-world threat.
Claims focus on chatbot design and safety
Beyond the alleged failure to warn authorities, the province argues OpenAI designed an unsafe product.
ChatGPT is "not a passive conduit for the speech of others but a content-generating product that manufactured scenarios involving gun violence," the lawsuit says.
The claim alleges OpenAI intentionally optimized ChatGPT to maximize user engagement, including by weakening or removing safeguards that previously rejected dangerous requests and by encouraging the chatbot to remain engaged in conversations rather than terminate high-risk interactions.
"Feasible, safer design alternatives existed and were not adopted or effectively implemented," the lawsuit says.
The province is seeking a jury trial and accuses OpenAI and other defendants of negligence, "aiding and abetting a mass shooting," and liability for a defective product.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, also names Altman personally along with the company and related entities.
Province seeking damages and new safeguards
The statement of claim does not specify a total dollar amount, beyond saying damages exceed US$75,000. It seeks compensation, punitive damages, interest and legal costs.
The B.C. government and School District 59 (Peace River South) say they are seeking compensation for costs incurred as a result of the attack and court orders aimed at preventing similar incidents.
Sharma said those costs include plans to replace Tumbler Ridge Secondary School after community consultations concluded the existing building should be demolished.
The lawsuit also cites extensive mental health support provided following the tragedy. It says provincial youth mental health teams delivered more than 900 counselling sessions to more than 100 children and families between the day after the shooting and early April, while Northern Health treated more than 130 adults.
"None of these expenditures would have been necessary but for the attack, and the attack would not have occurred but for OpenAI's deployment of an exceedingly dangerous product, which facilitated the mental instability of the shooter."
The province is also asking the court to order OpenAI to implement safeguards that would "reliably refuse, terminate or de-escalate" conversations involving threats of violence, weapons, or intent to harm others.
New school plans move forward
The Peace River South school district said Monday that a potential site for a replacement secondary school has been identified in Tumbler Ridge's Middle Bench area.
A request for proposals for preliminary site work is expected to be issued this week.
"At this stage, the work will focus on learning more about the site to see if it is suitable for a new school," the district said, adding that students, families and residents will have opportunities to provide feedback.
In June, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a joint federal-provincial commitment of $200 million to build the new school and modernize the Tumbler Ridge health centre.
The federal government has also pledged more than $4 million in support funding, including up to $2.5 million for the Red Cross and $500,000 for B.C.'s Ministry of Public Safety to strengthen victim services and emergency preparedness efforts in the community.
Sharma calls for stronger AI regulation
Sharma said British Columbia chose to file its claim in California because that is where OpenAI allegedly knew "serious things were happening in that chat" but failed to notify authorities.
She also argued that pursuing the case in California, home to many major technology companies, could have broader implications for AI safety.
According to Sharma, existing laws and regulatory frameworks have not kept pace with rapidly evolving artificial intelligence technology.
She said she has written to federal officials requesting Criminal Code changes that would allow AI companies to be held accountable for criminal conduct linked to their products.
"In any other circumstance, where a person aids, encourages, conspires to commit a criminal offence or is criminally negligent, they can be investigated, prosecuted and judged," the Attorney General said.
"There is no AI exemption to those criminal law principles."
- with files from the Canadian Press
