OpenAI and Sam Altman were hit with 30 lawsuits in California federal court on Wednesday, filed by students, teachers, and the principal who were inside the school during the Tumbler Ridge shooting in British Columbia. The suits allege OpenAI’s automated review flagged conversations that suspect Jesse Van Rootselaar had with ChatGPT about gun violence, and that chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane helped decide against notifying anyone, over the objection of a safety team that wanted Canadian authorities alerted. They also allege the company deactivated his account rather than banning him outright, which let him sign up again under a different email. Chief strategy officer Jason Kwon called the claims false on X and denied that political or PR factors shaped the decision.
