The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia says OpenAI has filed for judicial review in B.C. Supreme Court to challenge an order to produce documents related to the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting.
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The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia says artificial intelligence company OpenAI is challenging an order requiring it to produce documents connected to the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge.
In a statement, the independent privacy office says OpenAI has filed for judicial review in B.C. Supreme Court, contesting the privacy commissioner’s request for certain documents as part of an ongoing investigation.
The office says it first asked OpenAI last February for information about its “policies, practices, and the specific interactions that its applications had” with Tumbler Ridge shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar after media reports linked the company’s ChatGPT platform to the killings.
The privacy office says OpenAI did not comply, and the investigation began in June. It then ordered the production of the information last September, which OpenAI is now contesting.
The privacy office says its probe focuses on the use of personal information, including details in uploaded content or interactions with other ChatGPT users that appear in chatbot responses, and whether that would be appropriate in the circumstances, “including the potential for responses to influence behaviour.”
Van Rootselaar killed eight people on Feb. 10, 2026, including five students and an educational assistant at the local secondary school, before she fatally shot herself.
The privacy office says OpenAI shut down the shooter’s ChatGPT account in June 2025 after it was flagged for concerning behaviour, but the company did not notify police.
The B.C. government has said it is pursuing legal options against OpenAI, and several victims and their families have filed lawsuits against the tech firm.
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