The families of the victims of one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history are taking OpenAI and its co-founder Sam Altman to court in California “to pursue landmark damage awards,” according to firm Rice Parsons Leoni & Elliott.
Lawyers say the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., shooter’s ChatGPT account was banned for “disturbing content,” which allegedly included planning violent scenarios, prior to the February tragedy, according to a news release from the firm.
“However, despite some 12 different OpenAI employees imploring the company to notify Canadian law enforcement about the Shooter’s plans, nothing else was done,” the firm said.
On Feb. 10, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar shot and killed her mother and half-brother at home before fatally shooting five children and an educator at the local secondary school, as well as injuring numerous others. She died of a self-inflicted injury.
The firm shared documents Wednesday from seven lawsuits filed by the victims of the school shooting, including the families of the six victims who died there and a seriously injured survivor.
The firm said litigating the cases in Canada would be challenging, and damages for pain and suffering are capped at about $470,000.
Instead, the victims’ families will bring their cases against OpenAI in California “to pursue landmark damage awards.”
A memorial to the victims of the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School shooting on Feb. 12. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
The firm noted a lawsuit filed in B.C. by the family of Maya Gebala, who was seriously injured in the shooting, has been discontinued.
OpenAI responded to news of the lawsuits in a statement to CBC News by saying it has a “zero-tolerance policy for using our tools to assist in committing violence.”
“As we shared with Canadian officials, we have already strengthened our safeguards, including improving how ChatGPT responds to signs of distress, connecting people with local support and mental health resources, strengthening how we assess and escalate potential threats of violence, and improving detection of repeat policy violators,” the statement said.
Altman, OpenAI’s CEO and co-founder, wrote an apology letter to the community, shared last week, but Gebala’s mother Cia Edmonds said she isn’t accepting it.
In a statement shared by her lawyers, Edmonds questioned whether Altman used ChatGPT to draft the apology.
“It is empty, soulless, and lacks any human warmth. Only a machine could have put those words together and called it an apology,” Edmonds wrote.
She asked why Altman didn’t contact Canadian authorities to advise them of concerns about the shooter.
John Rice, lead Canadian counsel for the victims, said the Tumbler Ridge tragedy was avoidable.
“Based on what we understand the Shooter to have discussed with ChatGPT, this murderous rampage was specific, predictable, and preventable — and OpenAI had the chance to stop it,” he said.
Rice said the victims’ families are seeking justice and have faith in their American neighbours.
“They want OpenAI’s conduct assessed in the same jurisdiction it calls home — the Northern District of California…. Never again should another AI-predicted and facilitated mass-shooting occur. Full stop.”
Lawyers say more than two dozen lawsuits will be filed in waves on behalf of the victims.
What do the lawsuits allege?
Jay Edelman, the U.S. attorney representing the victims’ families, told CBC News Network that the case involved a “complete breakdown of all safety protocols.”
“The discussions [on ChatGPT] were so alarming that you had as many as 12 people on their safety team jumping up and down, begging their leadership to tell the authorities,” Edelman said.
“And they made a decision not to do that. “
The plaintiffs have asked for a jury trial, according to the court documents.
“It’s hard to imagine that a jury wouldn’t come back and … award Maya [Gebala] over $1 billion,” said Edelman.
“Her life will, of course, never be the same. And all of this could have been avoided. So yes, we will be seeking historic jury awards — and we expect to get them.”
Residents attend a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims of the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School shooting on Feb. 11. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
The seven lawsuits filed follow the same pattern, alleging that OpenAI could have and should have prevented the tragedy.
The shooter’s ChatGPT account was flagged for planning gun violence and was sent to a specialized safety team, which determined the shooter “posed a credible and specific threat of gun violence against real people,” according to the claims.
But, according to the suits, OpenAI’s leadership overruled the safety team and “vetoed their recommendation to notify the RCMP,” saying the case didn’t meet the company’s risk threshold.
The plaintiffs allege that warning the RCMP would set a precedent compelling OpenAI to “notify authorities every time its safety team identified a user planning real-world violence.”
“Given the volume of chat-induced violence on ChatGPT, that would require a dedicated law enforcement referral team tasked with reporting OpenAI’s own users to authorities.”
An RCMP officer works on the scene at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School the day after a mass school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on Feb. 11. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
The victims only learned of the information when OpenAI’s employees leaked the story to the Wall Street Journal, according to the claims.
The plaintiffs said OpenAI is “on the cusp” of an initial public offering, or IPO, with a value approaching $1 trillion US.
“Altman and his team understood that revealing another instance of violence where ChatGPT was helping a teenager plan yet another violent act — this time a mass shooting — could end his tenure, derail the IPO, and wipe out the company’s valuation.”
The plaintiffs said OpenAI said it “banned” the shooter’s ChatGPT account, when, according to the claim, OpenAI instead “deactivates” them, which can be “reversed within minutes by registering a new account.”
The plaintiffs said that’s what the shooter did, registering for a new account with a different email address, using her real name.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is named as a defendant in lawsuits filed by families of the victims of the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge. (Jason Redmond/AFP)
The claim said the San Francisco court has jurisdiction over OpenAI, because it conducts business in the district, and over Altman, because he lives there.
Edelman said OpenAI has “made a lot of money suppressing how unsafe their platform is” and added that to get accountability, “you have to actually hit companies like this in the pocketbook.”
But compensation is secondary to the families, Edelman said.
“What they want is to make sure this never happens again.”
