The British Columbia government has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in California over the February mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, adding a provincial government action to a growing legal battle involving the artificial intelligence company.
B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma announced Monday that the province has moved forward with legal action after previously retaining lawyers in both British Columbia and California to examine its options. The province says the lawsuit is aimed at holding OpenAI accountable over its handling of violent threats allegedly made through ChatGPT before the attack. The Feb. 10 tragedy in Tumbler Ridge left eight people dead, including six people killed at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. The attack also resulted in injuries and deeply affected the small northern B.C. community. The province’s legal action is separate from lawsuits already filed by victims, survivors and families. In September, an additional 30 claims were filed in California, bringing the reported total number of claims against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman related to the shooting to 37. The allegations in those cases have not been proven in court.
At the centre of the legal dispute are allegations concerning the shooter’s use of ChatGPT before the shooting. B.C. has said OpenAI failed to notify law enforcement about threats that had been identified on its platform. OpenAI has previously acknowledged that an account connected to the shooter was identified and banned in June 2025 for violating the company’s policies concerning violent activity. The company has also said another account connected to the individual was later identified.
The plaintiffs’ allegations go further, claiming that OpenAI’s internal safety processes identified concerning activity but did not result in a police notification. Those claims are disputed and remain matters for the courts to determine.
The timing of the provincial lawsuit comes as OpenAI is separately seeking to have many of the existing California lawsuits dismissed or moved to British Columbia. In motions filed in a U.S. court, OpenAI has argued that the case should be heard in B.C. because the shooting involved British Columbia schools, law enforcement, mental-health services, firearms regulations and other provincial issues.
OpenAI has also argued that many of the relevant witnesses and records are located in British Columbia and that Canadian courts may be better positioned to consider questions involving B.C. law and public policy. The provincial government, meanwhile, has maintained that it has a responsibility to pursue accountability where it believes corporate practices may have contributed to harm. B.C. previously said any lawsuit brought by the province would proceed independently of the cases filed by families and community members.
The RCMP has emphasized that the government’s civil action is separate from its criminal investigation into the Tumbler Ridge shooting. Police say that investigation remains active, with investigators continuing to analyze digital and physical evidence, electronic devices, social-media accounts and other material. The RCMP has also been working with specialized units and the FBI.
The criminal investigation has not publicly established whether any alleged failures by an AI company contributed directly to the shooting. Authorities have said that the investigation remains ongoing and that potential charges have not been ruled out.
The legal dispute also comes amid broader debate over the responsibilities of artificial intelligence companies when their platforms are used by people making threats or discussing violent acts.
AI companies have increasingly introduced systems designed to identify dangerous activity, restrict accounts and escalate certain threats. The Tumbler Ridge litigation could test how far those responsibilities extend when a platform detects concerning behaviour but does not immediately notify law enforcement.
The case could also raise questions about the balance between user privacy, freedom of expression, platform safety and the duty to intervene when threats appear credible. Those issues are expected to become central to the legal arguments as the cases progress.
OpenAI has said it has strengthened its safety systems, including measures intended to improve responses to signs of distress, strengthen threat assessment and escalation, and identify repeat attempts to circumvent safety restrictions.
For the families and survivors of the Tumbler Ridge attack, the lawsuits represent another avenue through which they are seeking answers about what happened before the shooting and whether earlier intervention was possible.
The B.C. government’s lawsuit is now part of a broader legal process that could take considerable time to resolve. The allegations against OpenAI have not been established by a court, and the company continues to contest the claims.
The outcome could have implications beyond Tumbler Ridge, particularly for how AI companies respond to threats of violence and what legal obligations they may have when potentially dangerous activity is detected on their platforms.