Thirty new lawsuits have been filed against OpenAI in U.S. federal court, as survivors and educators from the devastating Tumbler Ridge school shooting continue their legal battle against the artificial intelligence company.
The complaints, filed by California-based law firm Edelson PC, represent teachers, administrators, and students—including siblings who were separated during the horrific February 10 attack that claimed eight lives, including six children. The 18-year-old shooter also died in the tragedy.
Safety Warnings Allegedly Ignored
At the heart of the new legal filings is a damning allegation: OpenAI's own safety team repeatedly urged company leadership to alert authorities about the shooter's suspicious activity on ChatGPT as far back as eight months before the attack. Those warnings, the lawsuits claim, were overruled by Chris Lehane, OpenAI's head of global affairs.
"The survivors—students, teachers, and parents alike—are living with physical and psychological injuries that will never fully heal," one lawsuit states, detailing the lasting trauma experienced by those who endured the tragedy.
Profit Before Safety?
The legal filings paint a troubling picture: while OpenAI allegedly ignored internal pleas to notify police about potential violence, the company took swift action to protect its own offices after learning of threats to employees just three months before the Tumbler Ridge shooting.
Lawyers argue this disparity reveals OpenAI's priorities. "The company chose profit over the lives of the children of Tumbler Ridge," the lawsuits claim, pointing to OpenAI's preparations for a public stock offering as motivation to avoid negative publicity.
OpenAI's Defence
Jason Kwon, chief strategy officer at OpenAI, responded on social media, saying the tragedy weighs on the company daily. He emphasized that OpenAI maintains "teams that work hard to define standards and processes for when to report cases to law enforcement."
Kwon acknowledged the complexity of balancing safety protocols with user privacy across the company's more than one billion users. "They work continuously to identify potential warning signals of serious violence, while also protecting the privacy and security of the vast majority of users who use our tools responsibly," he stated.
The Broader Impact
This wave of litigation adds to seven earlier lawsuits already filed against OpenAI by families of the shooting victims. Together, these cases represent one of the most significant legal challenges yet against a major artificial intelligence company over content moderation and safety negligence.
The Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where the shooting occurred, was demolished in August—a symbolic end to the physical structure, though the emotional and legal wounds remain raw for the community.
This report is based on information originally reported by CBC Edmonton.