British Columbia sues OpenAI over alleged failure to report violent activity

British Columbia filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Monday in a California court, alleging that the company failed to report violent activity on its ChatGPT service by the person who committed a mass school shooting in the Canadian province. The case concerns deadly gun violence in February in Tumbler Ridge, described in the source material as a small mining town in western British Columbia. The province says OpenAI had a connection to the incident through activity on its service.

British Columbia Attorney General Niki Sharma said in July that the province intended to take legal action against the US technology company. The newly filed case represents the stated next step in that planned action. The available material does not set out the specific allegations in the complaint, the damages being sought or OpenAI’s response.

It also does not provide further details about the violent activity that British Columbia says should have been reported. The lawsuit places the responsibilities of an artificial-intelligence service under scrutiny after a mass shooting. Its central allegation, as described by the province, is that OpenAI did not report activity on ChatGPT connected to the person responsible for the February violence.

The source material does not indicate whether the court has ruled on the claim.