Families sue OpenAI over Canadian mass shooter's use of ChatGPT

A woman mourns at a makeshift memorial for the victims of a deadly mass shooting that took place in the town of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. A lawsuit filed Wednesday claims that OpenAI was negligent for failing to report the shooter to authorities after her account was flagged for "gun violence activity and planning." Paige Taylor White/AFP via hide caption toggle caption Paige Taylor White/AFP via Families of those injured and killed in a school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia are suing OpenAI for negligence and providing a dangerously defective version of ChatGPT to the shooter. The seven suits, filed in federal court in San Francisco, allege that OpenAI failed to take actions that could have prevented injuries and deaths in the shooting, which took place on February 10. They claim that the company failed to report the shooter's conversations with ChatGPT to authorities, and that ChatGPT itself was a defective product that did not challenge the shooter or direct her to seek real-world help. The suits are the latest seeking to hold a tech company responsible over the design of its products, a once-novel legal approach that is being increasingly used against chatbot makers, social media and other platforms. For those who lost loved ones "there's nothing that the legal system can do that will make them whole again," Edelson told NPR in an interview. …