MONTREAL: British Columbia said Tuesday it is preparing legal action against OpenAI over the company’s failure to report violent ChatGPT activity by the person who committed a mass school shooting in that western Canadian province.
OpenAI had banned an account linked to Jesse Van Rootselaar in June 2025, eight months before the 18-year-old transgender woman killed eight people at her home and at a school in the small mining town of Tumbler Ridge.
Canadian families affected by the February shooting have already filed a lawsuit against the American tech giant in a California court.
British Columbia said Tuesday it was preparing a separate case, in coordination with the families, and had retained lawyers in Canada and California.
Provincial Attorney General Niki Sharma told reporters the province wants to hold OpenAI and its decision-makers “accountable for their failure to notify law enforcement of violent incitements issued on its ChatGPT platform by the perpetrator before the Tumbler Ridge tragedy.”
“British Columbia has never hesitated to take on powerful corporations when their actions harm people and communities,” she added.
In April, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apologized to the residents of Tumbler Ridge, saying in a public letter that he was “deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement about the account that was banned in June.”
“While I know words are never enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered,” Altman wrote.
Van Rootselaar killed her mother and brother at the family home before going to the local high school, where she shot five children and a teacher.
She died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after police entered the building.
