Amy Hamm: B.C. trying to shift the blame for Tumbler Ridge shooting with OpenAI lawsuit

Jesse Van Rootselaar Photo by HANDOUT/Royal Canadian Mounted Police/AFP via Getty Images

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On Feb. 10, Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-old transgender-identifying biological male, committed one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history. One teacher, five students and Van Rootselaar’s own mother and half-brother were shot dead before Van Rootselaar used the gun to commit suicide, in a final act of cowardice. Dozens more were injured but survived.

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This month, the B.C. government announced that it has filed a lawsuit against California-based OpenAI for the company’s alleged role in the mass shooting. It joins the ranks of numerous Tumbler Ridge victims and families who’ve already done the same.

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OpenAI banned one of Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT accounts before the killings and did not notify Canadian authorities that the youth had spent months discussing mass-shooting scenarios with its AI chatbot. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has publicly apologized for this.

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The government’s lawsuit precedes the results of B.C. Chief Coroner Jatinder Baidwan’s public inquest into the tragedy. For this reason, the lawsuit should be considered opportunistic at best — or designed to mollify and misdirect the public, at worst.

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In March, after Baidwan announced the inquest, I argued that public officials must not be afraid to ask politically uncomfortable questions about the shooting. This includes what role — if any — Van Rootselaar’s gender identity and mental health may have played in the tragedy. We also need to know why the killer’s family had its guns returned after previously being confiscated from the home.

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Additionally, there are questions about the accuracy of language used in the emergency alert sent out by police, which described Van Rootselaar as a “female in a dress with brown hair,” causing immediate, and warranted, online speculation over the biological sex of the suspect.

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These are but a few of the questions that must be asked. Will anyone remain interested in asking them, though, if all eyes are on the OpenAI lawsuit?

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The B.C. Coroners Service told National Post in an email that the Tumbler Ridge inquest is still in its investigative phase. “The B.C. Coroners Service has not confirmed the dates for the Tumbler Ridge inquest at this time. Once all related investigations are concluded, we will send out a news release with more details,” wrote its media-relations staff.

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In a press release on the OpenAI lawsuit, B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma said that, “British Columbia is filing a lawsuit against OpenAI in California for its failure to notify law enforcement of threats made on its platform prior to the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School …

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“This case highlights the urgent need for strong national safeguards for artificial intelligence technologies and online platforms. Our government has consistently advocated for measures to protect people, especially children and youth, from online harms.