(Updates with statement from the office of British Columbia's Attorney General Niki Sharma in the fifth paragraph.)
OpenAI is facing a lawsuit from British Columbia in California over its alleged failure to notify law enforcement about threats made on ChatGPT by the person who carried out a mass school shooting in the Canadian province, according to several media reports on Monday.
In February, a mass shooting at a school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia left nine people dead, including the shooter.
The province alleges that OpenAI's safety systems flagged violent activity involving the person who carried out the attack but that law enforcement was not notified, according to the lawsuit as described by Reuters and British Columbia's attorney general.
The British Columbia government is seeking financial compensation from the AI firm, which is backed heavily by Microsoft (MSFT), to cover costs linked to recovery from the attack, according to Al Jazeera. The lawsuit also calls for a court order directing OpenAI to change how it identifies and handles user interactions that threaten violence, the media outlet added.
When asked for comment, a representative for the British Columbia Attorney General pointedto a transcript of the announcement of the province's Attorney General Niki Sharma, where she clarified that the decision to file in California was to "make sure that tragedies like that never happen again." Sharma also said her office would support the affected families who also filed lawsuits in the state.
OpenAI did not respond to' request for comment.
(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)
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