Seven lawsuits filed against OpenAI by families of Canada mass-shooting victims

Seven lawsuits filed against OpenAI by families of Canada mass-shooting victims29 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleNadine YousifSenior Canada reporterAFP via Getty ImagesEight people, including six children, were killed in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting on 10 February, making it one of the deadliest in Canada's historySeven families of victims killed or injured in a mass shooting in Canada have filed lawsuits against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman in a California court, accusing him and the company of ignoring the shooter's troubling interactions with ChatGPT. Eight people were killed, including six children, when 18-year-old Jessie Van Rootselaar opened fire at a secondary school in the Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, in February.Media reports have since revealed that Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT activity was flagged by OpenAI's safety team months before the attack for references to gun violence, but the company did not alert local police.Last week, Altman apologised to families of the victims."I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement," Altman wrote in an open letter published by local news outlet Tumbler RidgeLines."While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered."In a statement responding to the lawsuits, an OpenAI spokesperson said the company has "a zero-tolerance policy for using our tools to assist in committing violence."The spokesperson added that OpenAI had "already strengthened our safeguards", including better assessment and escalation of "potential threats of violence."The company also published a blog on Tuesday outlining how OpenAI responds to users who display potentially dangerous behaviour on ChatGPT. The new legal actions were filed in a California court on Wednesday by a joint legal team from the US and Canada.It will replace a previous lawsuit filed in a C...