British Columbia Sues OpenAI Over Failure to Report School Shooter's Violent ChatGPT Prompts

British Columbia announced on Tuesday it is preparing a lawsuit against OpenAI for failing to alert authorities to violent prompts made on ChatGPT by Jesse Van Rootselaar, the 18-year-old transgender woman who killed eight people in a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge in February 2025. OpenAI had banned an account linked to Van Rootselaar in June 2025, months before the shooting. Canadian families impacted by the tragedy have already filed lawsuits against OpenAI in a California court. British Columbia is coordinating with those families and has retained lawyers in both Canada and California. Provincial Attorney General Niki Sharma stated the province aims to hold OpenAI and its decision-makers accountable for not notifying law enforcement of the violent prompts made on its platform before the tragedy. Sharma emphasized that British Columbia has a history of taking on powerful corporations when their actions cause harm.