An 18-year-old young woman asked ChatGPT about violence. The bot gave her information instead of questioning and discouraging her violent urges. Months later, she killed her mother and stepbrother, then went to the local school and killed students and a teacher. The families of the victims are suing OpenAI for helping the shooter and failing to warn officials to stop her.
OpenAI is facing 30 new lawsuits from victims of the devastating school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, who accuse the company of providing “substantial assistance and encouragement” to the shooter and failing to alert police about her alarming ChatGPT interactions during the run-up to the mass killing.
The AI company’s legal peril is growing: it’s now fighting more than 50 lawsuits alleging that extensive use of its flagship chatbot, ChatGPT, wrought psychological harm, physical injury, or even death on users or those around them.
The new lawsuits weee brought against OpenAI by teachers and students who survived the Tumbler Ridge Massacre in February, in which eight adults and children were killed and 27 more were wounded in a rural Canadian mining town. The shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, fatally shot her mother and younger stepbrother at their home before attacking the school with a modified rifle and long gun, where she murdered five students — all aged between 12 and 13 — and a teacher.
OpenAI flagged her account. Months before the shooting, they debated whether to alert local officials. They decided not to do so, but deactivated her account. She quickly got a new account using a different name.
The lawsuits accuse OpenAI of negligence and “aiding and abetting a mass shooting,” alleging that ChatGPT stoked Van Rootselaar’s violent fantasies. The shooter’s chat logs have not yet been made public.
OpenAI is also being sued by victims of other mass shootings, where the chat logs showed their interest in killing others.
This is a helpful turn of events. AI providers should have key words that raise red flags and invite human oversight and intervention. ChatGPT could be programmed to alert human review and to discourage violence. It should be programmed with values: respect for others; kindness; the joy of giving and helping; and love of life.
“…Months before the shooting, they debated whether to alert local officials. They decided not to do so, but deactivated her account. “
Really? Debated? Holy cow!
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“…but deactivated her account.”
Stern measures!
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Of the two general approaches to artificial intelligence, knowledge-based expert systems and generative AI, only expert systems run on precise, domain-specific rules gleaned from the knowledge of experts in the domain for arriving at explainable decisions. If generative AI were to incorporate “violence prevention” expert systems, as well as other types of expert system, then generative AI would be best able to recommend or decide appropriate intervention protocol. (I once developed an expert system for a federal agency.)
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It is good that folks are trying make AI chatbots responsible for their interactions. with vulnerable individuals. If a teacher or councilor had responded in this way they would be held liable. Since they were aware of her activity they are negligent. There has to be some liability when a corporation lets users use their system that is mentally unstable and leads to loss of life or great harm.
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