The parents of a tween critically wounded in last month’s mass shooting in Canada are suing ChatGPT-creator OpenAI, claiming it knew that trans gunman Jesse Van Rootselaar was planning the mass murder.
Maya Gebala, 12, was shot three times at close range, once in the head, once in the neck, and once in the cheek, during the shooting at her school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on Feb. 10.
She suffered a catastrophic brain injury that will leave her with permanent cognitive and physical disabilities, according to the lawsuit filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court on Monday.
The lawsuit claims that trans gunman Van Rootselaar, 18, used the chatbot ChatGPT to plan the shooting that killed eight people and wounded 27 others.
OpenAI had “specific knowledge of the shooter utilizing ChatGPT to plan a mass casualty event like the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting,” the legal claim states, as reported by KSAT.
Van Rootselaar — who ended the carnage by turning the gun on himself — had used ChatGPT as a trusted ally, and the chatbot responded by facilitating his evil plan, the lawsuit alleged.
OpenAI later told police that the killer’s ChatGPT account had been closed before the attack, but he evaded the ban by using a second account.
OpenAI said it had considered alerting the police about Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT activity months before the shooting, but did not do so.
“What happened in Tumbler Ridge was an unspeakable tragedy, and our thoughts remain with the victims, their families, and the entire community,” an OpenAI spokesperson told The Post in response to the latest lawsuit.
“OpenAI remains committed to working with government and law enforcement officials to make meaningful changes that help prevent tragedies like this in the future,” the spokesperson added.
Rootselaar’s horror was one of Canada’s worst school shootings, and the deadliest mass shooting since 2020 attacks in Nova Scotia.
Van Rootselaar first gunned down his mother and his 11-year-old half-brother at their home in Tumbler Ridge, a small mining town of under 2,500 people.
He then brought a modified rifle and a long gun to Tumbler Ridge School, killing one victim in a stairwell and five others in the school library before shooting himself shortly before police arrived.
The mass shooting was the latest by a transgender killer, sparking fears of a mental health crisis.
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