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OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits from Tumbler Ridge shooting survivors over alleged negligence

Plaintiffs accuse the AI company of ignoring warnings about the shooter’s violent plans months before the attack

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
The memorial for the victims killed in a mass shooting, is seen in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

What this story says

  • Thirty new lawsuits were filed against OpenAI in a U.S. federal court in California by survivors of the Tumbler Ridge shooting, including teachers, students, and a principal.
  • The lawsuits allege OpenAI’s safety team identified the shooter as a credible threat eight months before the attack but was overruled by company leadership.
  • OpenAI admitted the shooter’s account was banned after concerning activity but was reopened under a second account, which the plaintiffs argue demonstrates negligence.
  • The cases seek compensatory and punitive damages, as well as the release of internal documents and chat logs related to the shooter’s interactions with ChatGPT.

Who covered it

Left 51%(22)Centre 35%(15)Right 14%(6)

Percentages are shares of the 43 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 7 of the 50 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

82/100

Craft

75/100

Hype

15/100

50 sources · methodology

Survivors of the February mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, filed 30 new lawsuits against OpenAI in a U.S. federal court in California. The plaintiffs include teachers, students, and a principal from Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where six of the eight victims were killed. The lawsuits allege OpenAI’s safety team flagged the shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, as a credible threat of imminent gun violence eight months before the attack but was overruled by company leadership.

OpenAI acknowledged that Van Rootselaar’s account was banned in June 2025 after concerning activity but stated the activity did not meet the threshold for reporting to police at the time. The shooter later reopened a second account, which the lawsuits argue allowed the attack to proceed. The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as the release of internal documents and chat logs related to Van Rootselaar’s interactions with ChatGPT.

The lawsuits describe scenes of horror at the school, where surviving students armed themselves with knives and tools while others hid among the dead. Statements from plaintiffs, provided by the law firm Rice Parsons Leoni and Elliott LLP, detail the psychological and physical injuries sustained by survivors. OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, responded that the company prioritises safety and has teams working to define standards for reporting potential threats while protecting user privacy.

Disagreements in the reports

The number of lawsuits filed is reported differently across outlets. CBC News and CTV News state 30 new lawsuits were filed, while Cryptocurrency News reports 37. The discrepancy is unresolved in the material provided. Additionally, CBC News reports that the lawsuits allege OpenAI’s head of global affairs, Chris Lehane, overruled the safety team’s recommendation to notify authorities, while OpenAI denies Lehane’s involvement, as reported by CBC News.

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated digests mentioned the specific role of OpenAI’s head of global affairs, Chris Lehane, in the alleged overruling of the safety team’s recommendation. The left-rated reports, including CBC News, carried this detail. Additionally, none of the right-rated digests included the plaintiffs’ demand for the release of Van Rootselaar’s chat logs or internal OpenAI documents, which were emphasised in the left-rated reports.

The centre-rated digests did not include the emotional testimonies of survivors or the law firm’s accusation that OpenAI prioritised profit over safety. These details were present in the left-rated reports, particularly in CBC News and The Toronto Star.

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 1 time, most recently on 2 Sept 2026, 21:00, and will add the sides that appear.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote a letter of apology to the community of Tumbler Ridge in April for failing to alert RCMP about the account of the Tumbler Ridge shooter. (Jason Redmond/AFP)
CBC NewsLeft

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

22 rated outlets

  • The left-rated digests and full reports led on the emotional impact of the shooting on survivors and the alleged negligence of OpenAI’s leadership. CBC News and The Toronto Star included statements from plaintiffs describing the trauma experienced during the attack, such as a teacher shielding students with her body. CBC News also quoted the law firm’s accusation that OpenAI prioritised profit over safety, framing the lawsuits as a demand for accountability and transparency.
  • CBC News and La Presse highlighted the plaintiffs’ demand for the release of Van Rootselaar’s chat logs and internal OpenAI documents. The full report in CBC News included a direct quote from lawyer Jay Edelson, who stated that OpenAI’s refusal to release the logs suggested their contents might harm the company’s defence. The left-rated digests also emphasised the broader implications of the lawsuits for AI regulation and corporate responsibility.

Centre

15 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated digests focused on the factual details of the lawsuits and OpenAI’s response. CTV News, the only full report among the centre-rated outlets, led with the number of lawsuits filed and the allegation that OpenAI’s safety team was overruled by leadership. The report included a statement from OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, who called accusations of negligence "completely untrue" and emphasised the company’s commitment to safety.
  • The digests from outlets such as Chek News and Castanet repeated the core facts: 30 new lawsuits, the involvement of Vancouver-based law firm Rice Parsons Leoni and Elliott LLP, and the plaintiffs’ identities as witnesses to the shooting. The centre-rated reports did not include the plaintiffs’ emotional testimonies or the demand for chat logs, focusing instead on the procedural aspects of the litigation.

Right

6 rated outlets

  • The right-rated digests framed the lawsuits as part of a broader legal and regulatory challenge for OpenAI. The Financial Post and New York Post led with the allegation that OpenAI could have prevented the shooting, with the New York Post using the phrase "product that encouraged a deranged teen" in its digest. The Straits Times and Firstpost highlighted the accusation that OpenAI made a "conscious decision" not to warn authorities, suggesting deliberate negligence.
  • Seeking Alpha and Yonhap News Agency focused on the potential impact of the lawsuits on OpenAI’s business and the tech industry. The digests described the cases as intensifying OpenAI’s legal battle and setting a precedent for AI firms’ responsibilities. None of the right-rated digests mentioned the plaintiffs’ emotional testimonies or the demand for internal documents.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits from Tumbler Ridge shooting survivors over…?
Of the 43 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 51% are rated left, 35% are rated centre, 14% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 50. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits from Tumbler Ridge shooting survivors over… left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 43 rated outlets on this story, 51% are rated left, 35% are rated centre, 14% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits from Tumbler Ridge shooting survivors over… biased?
OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits from Tumbler Ridge shooting survivors over alleged negligence is one event reported by 50 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which outlets covered OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits from Tumbler Ridge shooting survivors over…?
50 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
How many lawsuits were filed against OpenAI over the Tumbler Ridge shooting?
Thirty new lawsuits were filed in a U.S. federal court in California by survivors of the Tumbler Ridge shooting, including teachers, students, and a principal. The lawsuits allege OpenAI failed to act on warnings about the shooter’s violent plans months before the attack.
What do the lawsuits allege OpenAI did wrong?
The lawsuits allege OpenAI’s safety team identified the shooter as a credible threat eight months before the attack but was overruled by company leadership. OpenAI admitted the shooter’s account was banned but later reopened under a second account, which the plaintiffs argue demonstrates negligence.
What are the plaintiffs seeking in the lawsuits?
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as the release of internal OpenAI documents and chat logs related to the shooter’s interactions with ChatGPT. They also aim to hold OpenAI publicly accountable for the alleged negligence.
Did OpenAI respond to the allegations?
OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, responded that the company prioritises safety and has teams working to define standards for reporting potential threats. He called accusations of negligence "completely untrue" and denied the involvement of OpenAI’s head of global affairs in the decision not to notify authorities.

Read it at the source

50 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

22
Show 14 more

Centre

15
Show 7 more

Right

6

Not rated

7

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

How left, centre and right covered OpenAI lawsuits over Tumbler Ridge shooting | MediaBias News