It's a busy time to be a lawyer Aye Company. British Columbia becomes the latest government Sue OpenAI Last week, the company was accused of failing to warn police before the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in February.
The case is about loss of life and property at a school, but at its core is an argument that plaintiffs are consistently making in lawsuits against AI companies. The tools they produce are not just services that one can use. Those bringing cases against AI companies argue that their products are flawed – and potentially even defective.
The province alleges that OpenAI failed to alert law enforcement after internal concerns arose from the shooter's interactions with ChatGPT. Eight people died and 27 others were injured in the attack. For its part, OpenAI has said it has measures designed to prevent harm and cooperates with law enforcement when it identifies credible threats.
British Columbia is not the only example of individuals or groups bringing the fight against AI firms. Matthew and Maria Raine Sued OpenAI last year After his 16-year-old son Adam died by suicide, ChatGPT accused him of validating suicidal thoughts and providing information about methods of self-harm. OpenAI has denied responsibility for the incident, although it has acknowledged that its security measures may have become less reliable during lengthy negotiations.
Raines has made similar arguments to Megan Garcia, who sued Character.AI and Google after her 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III, died by suicide in 2024. A federal judge allowed significant parts garcia case Moving forward, involving product liability claims should focus on the design of Character.AI rather than solely on the content it generates. Character.AI and Google agreed to settle Garcia's case and some related lawsuits in January, though terms were not disclosed.
One of the reasons we are seeing so many cases coming up in the courts is the widespread use of AI. "It's not just a small segment of early adopters that are using it, but now it's reached the mainstream," says Eric Goldman, associate dean of research and professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law. As technology gets into more hands, there are more opportunities for things to go wrong – including among later adopters who may be less aware of the strengths and limitations of the technology.
However, this does not fully explain the volume of cases coming through the court. Plaintiffs' lawyers are increasingly framing chatbots as products whose features can be negligently designed. In the Garcia case, Judge Anne Conway said that Character.AI could be treated as a product because Garcia's claims related to defects in the app's design rather than its output. The verdict did not find that Character.AI caused Setzer's death – something the firm has been at pains to point out. But it reflects a legal system that is willing to argue these cases based on defective products rather than other theories of liability.
