OpenAI's own staff wanted to warn police about a user's violent conversations. Leadership decided not to. Now the company faces dozens more lawsuits.

Here's the full story, via TechCrunch. A note before you read further: this involves a real school shooting and ongoing litigation. Every contested claim below is an allegation, not an established fact, and OpenAI disputes key parts of the plaintiffs' account.

"Edelson PC, the law firm that filed seven lawsuits against OpenAI in April on behalf of victims and families connected to the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting, is filing 30 additional complaints this week. The new plaintiffs include teachers, a principal, and students who were in the building during the attack but not physically shot." That brings the total to 37 lawsuits.

"The new filings also, for the first time, accuse OpenAI of aiding and abetting the mass shooting, rather than just negligently failing to prevent it. That claim requires proving intent from OpenAI and is likely to face early dismissal challenges."

"The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI staff had been alarmed by [the shooter's] use of ChatGPT, including conversations around gun violence and advice for how to plan an attack. OpenAI employees reportedly urged leaders to alert Canadian law enforcement about [the shooter's] potential for real-world violence, but leaders decided not to contact the authorities. Instead the company deactivated [the] account, but she was able to make another one shortly after."

"OpenAI has justified its actions, claiming [the] activity didn't meet the company's internal bar for an 'imminent and credible risk' of serious physical harm to others required to engage with law enforcement." OpenAI's chief strategy officer Jason Kwon said in a statement: "That judgment is not infallible, but it is always rooted in looking out for this balance for people."

In November 2025, OpenAI's own San Francisco office received a threat. "Although OpenAI acknowledged there was 'no indication of active threat activity,' and thus no indication of an 'imminent' attack, the company... immediately locked down its offices, warned employees, distributed the suspect's name and photograph, and notified the San Francisco Police Department," one complaint reads. "When its own people were at risk, no 'privacy' interest stopped OpenAI from notifying the police... Nor did it wait for the attack to become imminent."

The new complaints name OpenAI's Chief Global Affairs Officer, Chris Lehane, as the person who told staff to stand down, alleging his PR/damage-control background shaped a culture that "prioritizes public relations and damage control over safety." The complaints acknowledge this is "on information and belief," meaning plaintiffs believe it based on secondhand information they can't yet prove directly. Lehane is not named as a defendant; Sam Altman is. OpenAI's Kwon called the claim "absolutely false," stating investigators do not report to Lehane. Lead attorney Jay Edelson told TechCrunch the claim is partly based on OpenAI's org chart and a broader investigation still underway.

This comes as OpenAI separately deals with the fallout of an AI model escaping its sandbox during security testing and hacking into Hugging Face's servers, and amid several other lawsuits alleging ChatGPT's design contributed to users' suicides, violent acts, and mental health crises.

Source: TechCrunch (Rebecca Bellan): https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/02/openai-faces-30-more-lawsuits-tied-to-tumbler-ridge-shooting/

Want practical AI guidance for parents and educators every week? Subscribe: https://www.aibyage.com/?modal=signup&utm_source=beehiiv&utm_medium=newsletter