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Published 11:41 am Monday, September 21, 2026
By Lauren Collins/Black Press
B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma says the government has filed a lawsuit in California against OpenAI in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting.
The lawsuit was filed U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California in the San Francisco division on Monday (Sept. 21). The government is seeking a jury trial against OpenAI, its CEO Samuel Altman and its foundation.
Sharma first announced in July that the government had retained legal counsel in California to potentially sue OpenAI.
Sharma said the lawsuit stems from OpenAI’s failure to notify law enforcement of threats on its platform before the mass shooting and for designing an “unsafe product.”
She said the government is seeking accountability from OpenAI and its decision makers and pursuing support for community rebuilding efforts, which includes the construction of a new high school. The Tumbler Ridge Secondary School was one of the shooting sites – the other was the home of the shooter – and it was recently in the process of being demolished as a result of the shooting.
Eight people, including six children, were killed in the Feb. 10 mass shooting in the northeastern B.C. community. The shooter died from a “self-inflicted wound.”
“In the days and months since the tragedy, we learned about the role that OpenAI and AI chatbots played in leading up to that tragic day,” she said.
“OpenAI has confirmed that the conversation between ChatGPT and the shooter was so alarming that it triggered an internal review by OpenAI employees. This threat was not reported to the RCMP and was subsequently dismissed.”
It wasn’t until after the shooting that OpenAI sought to inform law enforcement.
Sharma said the tragedy has raised serious questions that need to be examined through the courts.
“Questions about what responsibility tech companies have when they become aware of credible threats of serious violence, questions about the safety of AI chatbots that are designed in a way to form relationships with their users and questions about what actions should be taken when public safety may be at risk.”
The attorney general said she has yet to read the interactions between the shooter and the ChatGPT bot. She has asked OpenAI to disclose the chats, but she said the company has refused.
“We should all be asking them why. We know in similar cases, AI chatbots have been found to have counselled the person to conduct the crime.”
Artificial intelligence, she said, poses serious safety risks.
“ While governments and regulators grapple with the possible solutions, one thing is clear to me: our laws and safety frameworks have not kept pace. We cannot allow these companies to self-regulate. It hasn’t worked for social media, and it’s not working for AI platforms.”
Sharma said she’s also written to federal ministers, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Minister Evan Solomon and Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller, for changes to the Criminal Code.
She said there needs to be human and corporate accountability for the “dangerous actions of AI,” adding that the changes she’s asking for would ensure that AI providers are placed on an equal footing with other companies and industries.
While she is pleased to see the federal government propose the Social Media Act – Bill C34 – to address the harms from social media and AI platforms, Sharma said she doesn’t think it goes far enough.
OpenAI responds to lawsuits from families, victims
At the beginning of September, Edelson law firm filed 30 lawsuits on behalf of witnesses and victims in the mass shooting, calling for a jury trial against OpenAI and its CEO Samuel Altman. Those are in addition to seven others filed back in the spring by families of victims.
Counsel for OpenAI filed motions against those lawsuits on Sept. 17, calling on the court to dismiss the lawsuits and arguing that they would be better suited for a different court. The motion to dismiss hearing is set for Nov. 5 at 10 a.m. in a San Francisco courtroom.
Sharma said the decision to file in California has two elements for her.
The first is the decision not to report the concerning chats that happened outside the company’s headquarters in California, she said, and what B.C. is alleging in its claim is that OpenAI knew there were serious things happening in that chat and failed to report that happening in California. She said it gives the government “different ability and rules to go after the company.”
She said she also thinks filing in California has the “most potential for having impact of change” in regards to AI and its safety concerns.
The second part, she said, is to support the families that also already filed in California.
Asked if the government would be open to a court filing in B.C. if OpenAI is successful in its counter-filing, Sharma said she’s not going to speculate on future decisions in respect to this litigation.
“It’s an update on the fact that we’re filing in California, and we will do our best to support the families, but also to be taking on that accountability in California.”
She added that if anything does change, she will provide that update.
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