Parents of Maya Gebala— a young girl left with life-altering injuries after a horrific school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia — have filed a civil lawsuit against OpenAI.
The claim, filed in the B.C. Supreme Court on Monday, alleges that the tech giant was aware that the shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, was using ChatGPT to meticulously plan a mass casualty event but failed to notify the authorities.
The tragedy, which occurred on February 10, claimed the lives of eight people, including five students and a teaching assistant, before Van Rootselaar turned the gun on herself. According to the lawsuit, approximately 12 OpenAI employees had identified the shooter’s prompts as indicating an “imminent risk of serious harm” and had recommended calling the police. However, the legal claim asserts that these concerns were “rebuffed” by leadership, who opted only to ban the shooter’s initial account.
In turn, Open AI has since admitted that it had flagged Van Rootselaar’s activities since as early as June 2025 for the “furtherance of violent activities.” Nevertheless, the organisation chose not to report this to the RCMP, since it did not meet their “threshold.” This, in turn, has drawn criticism from B.C. Premier David Eby and federal ministers. The lawsuit further alleges that the shooter managed to evade her initial ban by simply opening a second account, which she allegedly used as a “trusted confidante” to refine her attack plans.
For Maya Gebala’s family, the legal battle is an attempt to hold the AI firm accountable for what they describe as a “catastrophic” failure of safety protocols. Maya was hit three times at close range while trying to lock a library door to protect her fellow students, and she is now faced with a lifetime of cognitive and physical disabilities because of a severe brain injury she sustained. While no response has yet been made by Open AI regarding this filing, this case is sure to set a precedent regarding the responsibility placed on AI development to stop violence in the real world.
