OpenAI Faces 30 New Tumbler Ridge Lawsuits Alleging It Aided 8 Killings
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 2
OpenAI Faces 30 New Tumbler Ridge Lawsuits Alleging It Aided 8 Killings
3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 2
Summary
Thirty new California complaints expand the Tumbler Ridge litigation beyond the seven filed in April, adding teachers, a principal and students who were inside the school but not shot.
The new suits escalate the theory from negligence to aiding and abetting, arguing OpenAI knew of Jesse Van Rootselaar’s violent ChatGPT use, declined to alert Canadian police and only deactivated an account she quickly replaced.
Eight people were killed in the February 10 rampage in British Columbia—Van Rootselaar’s mother, half-brother and six others at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School—after employees had reportedly urged leaders to contact authorities.
Chris Lehane is newly named in the complaints as the executive who allegedly told staff to stand down, though OpenAI denies he was involved and says safety staff do not report to him.
The filings also challenge OpenAI’s privacy and imminence defense by citing a 2025 San Francisco office threat, when the company alerted police and warned employees despite saying there was no active threat.