Abstract:
According to Bloomberg, the Canadian province of British Columbia has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in California, alleging that the company could have used ChatGPT logs to warn the police and avoid a mass shooting in the province earlier this year.
Canadians mourn victims
On February 10 this year, teenager Jesse Van Rootselaar was suspected of killing five students and a teacher, as well as her mother and half-brother at Tamble Ridge Middle School in northern British Columbia before committing suicide.
The British Columbia lawsuit focuses on the decision by OpenAI employees not to alert Canadian authorities.
The lawsuit was filed to hold the company accountable for "designing a dangerous product and promoting it to every home with Internet access; ignoring warnings from its own security team; refusing to notify authorities when it was known that a shooter was planning an act of gun violence; allowing the shooter to re-use the platform after deactivating his account; and placing the company's self-interest over the lives of children," according to the filing.
The province of British Columbia is asking for a jury trial and is seeking compensation for damages caused and ongoing damages, as well as "injunctive relief to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again," the charging document said.
“With just one phone call to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, this tragedy could have been prevented,” the document states.
An OpenAI spokesperson said via email: "What happened at Tamboulor Ridge is an unspeakable tragedy, and our thoughts remain with the victims, their families, and the entire community."
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