British Columbia sues OpenAI, says warning could have averted shooting
The province filed in California on Monday, arguing the company should have told police what it knew about a user before a mass shooting at a school.
British Columbia has sued OpenAI in California over a mass shooting at a school in the province, Reuters reported. The province filed on Monday and says the shooting could have been prevented if the company had warned local law enforcement about the user beforehand.
The claim turns on a duty to warn. Reuters reported that the province contends OpenAI held information about the user that it did not pass to police. That is an allegation in a complaint, not a finding, and no court has tested it.
Canadian and international outlets carried the filing on Monday and Tuesday, placing the shooting at a secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, in northern British Columbia, in February. Reports of the complaint say the province seeks compensation and an order changing how the company handles conversations that threaten violence.
OpenAI's answer to the suit is not yet reported. The paper has not seen the complaint, and the account of what the company knew rests on the province's own characterisation of its evidence. What OpenAI recorded about the user, and when, is not established.