British Columbia sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for ‘aiding and abetting’ school shooter

British Columbia sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for 'aiding and abetting' school shooter

B.C. and the local school district are suing both OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman for related costs, including the costs of the emergency response and a replacement school and wellness center. In addition, the province is demanding that ChatGPT make safety changes and also wants the shooter’s chat logs produced. OpenAI only shared said logs with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after the shooting. The lawsuit involves eight counts, including negligence, and is seeking both punitive and compensatory damages.

The complaint also targets OpenAI’s Model Spec, its guidelines for how AI models should behave. B.C. says the spec advised ChatGPT to “assume best intentions” without asking the user to clarify intent before making a refusal decision. By spec, the model must “try” to prevent imminent real-world harm, but refusal is required if the user signals illicit intent. If the user’s intent is unclear and the request isn’t otherwise off-limits, the model follows that no-questions rule. According to OpenAI’s spec, its production models do not fully follow these guidelines, and the complaint adds that an anti-violence “red line” was only added in December 2025.

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