British Columbia Sues OpenAI Over ChatGPT’s Alleged Role in School Shooting

British Columbia and a local school district sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging ChatGPT reinforced the violent ideation of the perpetrator of the February shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. The complaint says OpenAI identified the user’s account in June 2025, and internal reviewers deemed the user a credible threat and recommended alerting authorities, but company leadership allegedly declined to refer the case to police. British Columbia disputes OpenAI’s assertion that the account had been banned.

The plaintiffs seek ChatGPT conversation logs, compensatory and punitive damages, and reimbursement for emergency response and replacement education facilities, including a new school. They also seek court-ordered changes to ChatGPT safety instructions, independent audits, and reporting practices for credible threats, alleging OpenAI removed safeguards that could have ended the chats and deployed a model that was excessively validating despite known risks of assistance for real-world violence.