Teacher, students sue OpenAI over deadly Canadian school shooting, claim ChatGPT encouraged teen shooter

A teacher and students who survived the deadly school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, Canada, have filed lawsuits against OpenAI, alleging that the company failed to act on warning signs from the teenage shooter’s conversations with ChatGPT.

The new lawsuits follow earlier cases filed by families of victims of the February shooting, which left several people dead and others seriously injured.

According to the lawsuits, the suspected shooter allegedly had disturbing and violent conversations with ChatGPT months before the attack. Court filings claim OpenAI eventually deactivated one of the teenager’s accounts but did not alert law enforcement.

The plaintiffs further alleged that members of OpenAI’s safety team had urged the company to notify authorities before the shooting.

One teacher, Deirdre Rushlow, reportedly sheltered students in her classroom during the attack and believed she was about to die. She allegedly texted her husband goodbye as gunshots were fired through the classroom doors.

The lawsuits accuse OpenAI of creating a dangerous product that allegedly encouraged the teenager to plan and carry out the attack.

Reacting to the allegations, OpenAI’s Chief Strategy Officer, Jason Kwon, said the company works to identify warning signs of serious violence and relies on automated systems and human judgment when making difficult decisions.

He, however, denied claims that political or public relations considerations influenced the company’s safety decisions.

OpenAI has also reportedly said that it has since strengthened its safety protocols and that under its current policies, similar activity could be escalated to authorities.

The cases add to growing legal concerns surrounding artificial intelligence platforms and allegations that chatbots may encourage or fail to prevent users from harming themselves or others.