Privacy order now before B.C. Supreme Court
OpenAI is challenging a British Columbia privacy order seeking information about the company’s ChatGPT platform and its interactions with the person responsible for the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting. The California-based artificial intelligence company has filed for judicial review in B.C. Supreme Court, according to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.
The court application places a dispute over the reach of the province’s privacy watchdog alongside an investigation into how personal information may have been used in an AI system before the killings. The privacy office says OpenAI did not comply with an earlier request for records, prompting an investigation and, later, a formal order requiring the company to produce the material.
The agency said its original request sought information about OpenAI’s policies and practices, as well as particular interactions between its applications and Jesse Van Rootselaar. Media reports had linked the ChatGPT platform to the killings in Tumbler Ridge, where eight people were killed on Feb. 10, including five students and an educational assistant at the local secondary school. Van Rootselaar then fatally shot herself.
“policies, practices, and the specific interactions that its applications had”
The quoted wording comes from the privacy office’s description of what it asked OpenAI to provide. The regulator says the company’s failure to comply led it to open an investigation in June. In September, the office issued an order compelling production of the information. OpenAI is now asking the court to review that order.
Investigation focuses on personal information and influence
The privacy office says its examination is centred on the handling of personal information. That includes information contained in material uploaded to ChatGPT and details involving interactions with other users that may have appeared in chatbot responses.
It is also examining whether the use of that information was appropriate in the circumstances. The regulator specifically identified the possibility that responses generated by the chatbot could have influenced behaviour. The statement does not set out a conclusion on that question, and the investigation remains ongoing.
That distinction matters in a case where grief, public safety and rapidly evolving technology overlap. The regulator is not announcing a finding that ChatGPT caused the killings. Instead, it is seeking records to examine how the system operated, what information was involved and whether the company’s practices met the circumstances described by the office.
Account was closed months after the shooting
OpenAI shut down Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account in June 2025, after it was flagged for concerning behaviour. The company did not notify police, according to the source material. The timing and handling of that account are part of the wider public scrutiny surrounding the technology company, although the privacy office’s investigation is described more broadly as covering information use and application responses.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the judicial review. Without the company’s position, the precise grounds for its challenge and the arguments it will advance in court are not available. The court filing itself, as described by the privacy office, marks the next stage in a dispute that began with a request for records and has now moved into formal legal proceedings.
Province and families are also pursuing legal action
The privacy investigation is one of several legal fronts involving OpenAI. The B.C. government has already said it is pursuing legal options against the company, while several victims and their families have filed lawsuits against the technology firm.
Those separate actions mean the Tumbler Ridge case is being examined through different channels: the privacy regulator’s investigation, the province’s contemplated legal response and claims brought by people affected by the killings. The source material does not specify the remedies being sought in those cases or provide details of the allegations in the families’ lawsuits.
| Development | Reported timing |
|---|---|
| OpenAI account shut down after a concerning-behaviour flag | June 2025 |
| B.C. privacy office opened its investigation | June |
| Order issued requiring documents | September |
| OpenAI filed for judicial review | Oct. 30, 2026 |
A test of oversight as AI enters public-safety questions
For communities such as Tumbler Ridge, the dispute raises questions that extend beyond a single platform. When an AI service is connected to a tragedy, families and the public want to know what information was available, how it was handled and whether warning signs were acted upon. Regulators, meanwhile, must establish what records they can demand and how privacy law applies to conversations and uploaded material held by an international technology company.
The proceedings may also clarify how accountability is pursued when an AI provider operates across borders but serves people in British Columbia. The privacy office is an independent agency, and its order is now being tested through the province’s court system. Until the court considers the challenge and the regulator completes its work, there is no finding in the material provided that OpenAI’s conduct caused the shooting or breached B.C. privacy law.
The immediate issue is whether the company must provide the documents requested by the privacy office. The larger public-interest questions—about personal information, warnings, chatbot responses and potential influence on behaviour—remain unresolved. In Tumbler Ridge, where the killings left eight people dead, those questions carry a weight that is both technological and deeply human.
