Canada’s British Columbia sues OpenAI in US court over school shooting

British Columbia filed a lawsuit on Monday against OpenAI in California over the company’s failure to report violent activity on its ChatGPT service by the person who committed a mass school shooting in the western Canadian province.British Columbia Attorney General Niki Sharma said in July that the province planned legal action against the US tech giant for its connection to the deadly February gun violence in the tiny mining town of Tumbler Ridge.Sharma told reporters that the suit filed earlier on Monday is seeking “accountability and change” from OpenAI, which previously apologised for not flagging the account linked to Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-old transgender woman who killed eight people at her home and a school.Tumbler Ridge families impacted by the shooting have filed separate lawsuits against the US tech giant in California.OpenAI has already moved to dismiss those family lawsuits, arguing that any legal actions related to the shootings should be heard in British Columbia.The financial damages that could be awarded by a Canadian court would likely be substantially smaller than a prospective award from a US court.Jesse Van Rootselaar killed eight people in the town of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada in February. Photo: Royal Canadian Mounted Police / Handout via ReutersReporters asked Sharma why British Columbia believed California was the appropriate venue for its action.“The decision not to report happened in California,” she said.