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B.C. targets OpenAI
British Columbia is preparing to sue OpenAI over the company’s alleged failure to notify police after its staff internally flagged violent ChatGPT conversations linked to the person responsible for the February Tumbler Ridge mass shooting.
“explore all legal avenues to hold OpenAI and its decision-makers accountable for its documented failure to notify law enforcement”
Attorney General Niki Sharma announced the province has hired legal teams in British Columbia and California to “explore all legal avenues to hold OpenAI and its decision-makers accountable for its documented failure to notify law enforcement regarding explicit, flagged threats made by the perpetrator on the company’s ChatGPT platform.”
The move follows internal reports cited by Sharma’s office that OpenAI’s safety teams flagged the shooter’s “violent prompts on ChatGPT months before the attack, yet the company’s leadership did not notify police or local authorities”.
The province said OpenAI is based in San Francisco, California, and that the lawsuit would be separate from litigation filed by victims’ families in California.
In parallel, families of victims have already sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman in the United States, with the complaint filed on behalf of Maya Gebala described as among the first of dozens of cases planned by families in Tumbler Ridge.
Apologies and lawsuits
In California, families of victims have pursued wrongful-death claims against OpenAI and its founder Sam Altman, alleging the company did not alert authorities about the shooter’s ChatGPT interactions before the February 10 attack.
Attorney Jay Edelson, representing plaintiffs including Maya Gebala, said in an interview that “have destroyed the town. People are really resilient, but what happened is unimaginable.”
OpenAI responded to the lawsuits by saying the “facts in Tumbler Ridge are a tragedy” and that it has a “zero-tolerance policy for the use of our tools to help commit violence.”
Altman’s apology letter, published in the local newspaper Tumbler Ridgelines, included the line “I am deeply sorry for not alerting law enforcement to the account that was banned in June.”
Gebala’s mother, Cia Edmonds, rejected the apology in a statement released by her lawyers, saying “Tumbler Ridge acknowledged your 'apologies,' Sam. We do not accept them.”
What’s at stake
British Columbia’s legal action is framed as an effort to prevent future harm and to ensure the province is not left bearing the costs of “corporate wrongdoings,” with Sharma saying the province will use the courts to pursue accountability.
“We will use the courts to pursue accountability and ensure that British Columbians are not left bearing the costs of corporate wrongdoings.”
Sharma said, “We will use the courts to pursue accountability and ensure that British Columbians are not left bearing the costs of corporate wrongdoings.”
The province’s stated focus includes community rebuilding efforts, with the BC Gov News release saying legal avenues are being pursued while the province supports victims’ families and the broader Tumbler Ridge community as they recover.
The BC Gov News release says the attack at Tumbler Ridge Secondary school on Feb. 10, 2026, “claimed the lives of eight innocent people, including an educator and five children between the ages of 11 and 13, and left 27 others wounded.”
It also states that the province has retained CFM Lawyers in Vancouver and Stranch, Jennings & Garvey, a California-based law firm, to explore legal options in the state where OpenAI is headquartered.