分类： technology

TORONTO – In a major legal development following one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings in recent years, seven new federal lawsuits have been lodged against OpenAI in a California court by legal representatives of victim families connected to the February attack in the small British Columbia mining town of Tumbler Ridge.

The litigation centers on the AI developer’s controversial handling of account activity linked to 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, the perpetrator of the attack that left eight people dead and multiple others seriously injured. After the shooting, OpenAI faced widespread public backlash over its choice not to alert Canadian law enforcement to concerning behavior detected on Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account, which the company said it banned in June 2025 – months before the attack. In the immediate aftermath, OpenAI defended its inaction, claiming there was no clear evidence of an imminent violent plot that would trigger a report to authorities.

The new lawsuits challenge multiple core claims made by OpenAI, according to official statements from the plaintiffs’ cross-border legal team. Legal representatives allege that OpenAi deliberately chose not to report Van Rootselaar’s activity, arguing that flagging one high-risk account would create an obligation to flag thousands of similar concerning cases across the platform. Beyond this, the suits cast doubt on OpenAI’s assertion that Van Rootselaar’s original account was ever fully banned.

The legal filing details longstanding gaps in OpenAI’s account safety protocols, claiming that when users are locked out for dangerous conduct, the company actively provides guidance on how to restore access – including workarounds to bypass mandatory 30-day suspension periods. Even for permanently banned users, the suit notes OpenAI does not block repeat sign-ups: the company explicitly informs users that they can create a new account immediately simply by registering with a different email address. Per court documents, Van Rootselaar did exactly that, launching a new ChatGPT account after her first was restricted.

This new wave of US litigation follows an earlier Canadian case brought on behalf of Maya Gebala, a 12-year-old victim who was gravely wounded in the school shooting. Legal teams confirmed they are coordinating across the US-Canada border, and the new US filings will supersede the existing Canadian action. Legal representatives also signaled that more lawsuits are imminent, saying that over two dozen additional claims on behalf of shooting victims will be filed in batches over the coming weeks.

OpenAI has already taken public steps to address fallout from the incident. Earlier this month, CEO Sam Altman issued a direct public apology to the Tumbler Ridge community, saying he was “deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June”. The company has also confirmed that it has revised its safety policies since the incident, acknowledging that under current updated protocols, Van Rootselaar’s behavior would now trigger an automatic flag to police.

When contacted for comment on Wednesday’s new filings, an OpenAI spokesperson reiterated the company’s commitment to preventing misuse of its tools. “We have a zero-tolerance policy for using our tools to assist in committing violence. As we shared with Canadian officials, we have already strengthened our safeguards, including improving how ChatGPT responds to signs of distress,” the spokesperson said.

The attack itself has remained one of the most high-profile cases examining the responsibility of AI platforms for user-generated dangerous content. Van Rootselaar first killed her mother and brother at their family home in Tumbler Ridge, before traveling to the town’s local secondary school, where she shot and killed five students and one teacher. She ultimately died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after responding police entered the school building.

At a high-profile gathering of the world’s top engineering and technology minds in New York last week, Dushyant Savadia, chief executive of Jamaican-headquartered Amber Group, brought a pressing underdiscussed global challenge to the forefront: the crisis of unrecognized legal identity for roughly 1.1 billion people worldwide. Framing the issue as one of humanity’s most persistent unaddressed gaps, Savadia pointed to Jamaica’s ongoing rollout of the National Identification System (NIDS) as a actionable blueprint that other nations, particularly small island developing states, can adapt to close the identity gap.

Savadia’s appearance marked a historic milestone, as he became the first leader from Jamaica and the broader Caribbean region extended an invitation to speak as a featured guest at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Laureate Summit. Held from April 22 to 24, the 2024 summit drew an elite cohort of global technology leaders, including NVIDIA co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, who was honored with the organization’s prestigious IEEE Medal of Honor during the event.

In his 35-minute featured interview at the summit, Savadia broke down the far-reaching harms of stateless and unregistered identity. Without official legal documentation, he explained, billions of people are systematically locked out of core public and private systems that most take for granted: access to formal banking, basic healthcare services, democratic voting rights, insurance coverage, and participation in the fast-growing digital global economy.

“Give them an identity and you give them a door into every system that was previously closed to them,” Savadia emphasized during the discussion.

Drawing on global precedent, Savadia highlighted India’s groundbreaking Aadhaar programme, which has successfully registered nearly 1 billion residents to a centralized digital identity system, as evidence that large-scale identity initiatives can deliver transformative impact. He went on to note that Jamaica’s NIDS rollout, once complete, could position the Caribbean nation as a regional and global model, particularly for peer small island developing states that face unique structural challenges in building national identification infrastructure.

Beyond economic and social exclusion, Savadia also argued that widespread lack of formal identity fuels broader public safety risks. People who “do not exist in the system have no stake in it,” he explained, a dynamic that can create fertile ground for increased crime and persistent social fragmentation.

Founded in 1963, the IEEE stands as one of the world’s most influential professional engineering and technology organizations, boasting a membership of more than 400,000 professionals across over 160 countries. According to a statement from Amber Group, Savadia was invited to speak at the invitation-only summit in recognition of the firm’s pioneering work across multiple cutting-edge technology sectors, including artificial intelligence, robotics, the internet of things, cybersecurity, and fintech.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – In a deliberate push to narrow the gender gap in technology, local telecom provider Flow and its philanthropic arm, the Flow Foundation, celebrated the annual International Girls in ICT Day with an interactive artificial intelligence workshop designed to build practical skills and self-assurance among young female learners ahead of their entry into the fast-changing digital sector. Spearheaded by the International Telecommunication Union, Girls in ICT Day is observed globally every fourth Thursday of April, with a core mission to inspire more young women and girls to pursue academic pathways and professional careers in information and communication technology, a field long marked by gender underrepresentation.

This year’s Jamaican iteration of the celebration, held at Flow’s Corporate Lounge in Kingston under the focused theme “AI for Development: Girls Shaping the Digital Future”, drew more than 100 high school students from across the island for a hands-on, forward-looking learning experience that moved far beyond theoretical discussion. Veteran AI transformation strategist and entrepreneur Stacey Hines led the workshop, walking participants through core AI fundamentals and highlighting tangible, real-world use cases for the technology, with a specific focus on relevant applications developed and deployed across the Caribbean region.

Attendees explored how AI can be leveraged to address many of the most urgent social and economic challenges facing their communities, worked in collaborative teams to draft their own AI-powered solutions to local problems, and even got the chance to design custom animated AI avatars, putting their new skills to immediate use. “High school girls across Jamaica are growing up into a world where AI literacy is no longer a niche skill – it’s a core competency for almost any growing career,” Hines explained during the event. “This session gave them direct access to the tools, the framework, and the supportive community they need to step into that world with confidence. That is what makes this work so critical. It creates room for curiosity, grows digital confidence, and makes clear that girls belong at the center of global innovation, not on the sidelines. Our goal here is not just to teach them what AI is – it’s to show them how it can open doors, strengthen local communities, and create clear pathways to leadership for them.”

The day’s activities wrapped up with an energetic pitch competition, where participating teams presented their AI-driven concepts to judges, showcasing how their ideas could solve pressing local challenges. Through funding from the Flow Foundation, every member of the first-place team took home a Samsung tablet in recognition of their standout creativity, teamwork, and forward-thinking approach. Teams placing second and third were awarded smartphones paired with multi-month data plans to support their continued tech learning.

For many of the young attendees, the workshop proved to be both a revelation and a source of empowerment. Kaylee Braimbridge, an 11th-grade student at Vauxhall High School, shared that the event “made AI feel less intimidating and showed me that I can actually use it to solve problems in my community and even build something of my own one day.”

Maya Walrond, Senior Director for Digital Transformation at Flow, emphasized that the workshop is just one part of the company’s long-term commitment to fostering Jamaica’s digital evolution. “At Flow, we recognize that the future strength of our nation is deeply tied to how well we prepare our young people to thrive in an increasingly digital global economy,” Walrond said. “Initiatives like this are not just about giving girls exposure to new technology – they are about empowerment. We are building meaningful, accessible, and enjoyable opportunities for girls to engage with cutting-edge emerging technologies, build innovation skills, and see themselves as leaders in Jamaica’s ongoing digital transformation journey.”

Beyond investing in digital infrastructure across the island, Flow is using targeted community initiatives like this AI workshop to invest directly in Jamaica’s next generation of tech leaders. By equipping young women with the knowledge, confidence, and practical tools to engage with emerging technologies, the company is working to build a more inclusive, innovative, and sustainable digital future for the entire country.