OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits over Tumbler Ridge school shooting

September 2, 2026 at 07:35 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman face 30 new lawsuits filed Wednesday in California federal court over the Tumbler Ridge school shooting. The suits, brought by students, teachers, and the principal, allege the company aided and abetted the shooter by failing to act on flagged ChatGPT conversations. OpenAI's chief strategy officer called the claims false.

Key Facts

The Tumbler Ridge school shooting in February left eight people dead.
30 new complaints were filed Wednesday in a U.S. federal court in California.
The lawsuits name OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman as defendants.
The suits allege OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, was involved in a decision to stay silent.
OpenAI's chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, responded on X that the lawsuits contain false claims.

The Lawsuits

The new wave of lawsuits was filed in a California federal court on Wednesday by the students, teachers, and the principal in the school at the time of the shooting. The suits, brought by lawyer Jay Edelson, allege that the company knew about the intentions of the 18-year-old shooter who, in her interactions with OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, had described scenarios involving gun violence, but that the leadership did not report their concerns to law enforcement. The complaints accuse OpenAI of negligence, as well as aiding and abetting a mass shooting. Similar to the lawsuits filed by Tumbler Ridge victims' families in April, these lawsuits claim OpenAI failed to take action after its automated review system flagged conversations that the alleged shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, had with ChatGPT about gun violence.

OpenAI's Response

Jason Kwon, OpenAI's chief strategy officer, responded to the lawsuits in a post on X, saying they contain "false claims" about its safety teams. He adds that it's "completely untrue to say that the people at the center of these challenging decisions do not prioritize safety, or that there are 'political' or 'public relations' factors at play." OpenAI is also facing a lawsuit from the state of Florida, which accuses the company of aiding and abetting mass shooters, including the suspect who carried out an attack at Florida State University last year.

Alleged Account Deactivation

The new Tumbler Ridge lawsuits also allege that OpenAI allowed the suspect to continue using ChatGPT by "deactivating" their account rather than issuing a system-wide ban. This allegedly allowed the suspect to regain access to the AI chatbot by signing up with another email. "Providing the Shooter with continued access to this tool constituted substantial assistance in itself," the lawsuit alleges, claiming OpenAI's "substantial assistance was a key factor in causing the Shooter to plan and carry out the attack."