New lawsuits filed against OpenAI on Wednesday over the Tumbler Ridge school shooting in British Columbia, Canada accuse the ChatGPT maker’s executives of prioritising the company’s public image over public safety.

Thirty complaints have been filed against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, in a federal court in San Francisco by people who were present during the shooting, including students, teachers and a school principal.

In April, the families of seven other victims who were injured or killed in the February 2026 shooting sued OpenAI and Altman, accusing the company of failing to alert law enforcement about the alleged shooter’s violent conversations with ChatGPT and of aiding and abetting the attack.

The latest lawsuits repeat many of those allegations while adding new claims that OpenAI officials overseeing the company’s public relations, including Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane, overruled a recommendation from its safety team to refer the account to authorities.

“What these complaints show is the larger impact and how many people’s lives were really destroyed all based on decisions made by people at OpenAI,” said Jay Edelson, the lead attorney representing the Tumbler Ridge victims and their families.

OpenAI has rejected the allegations concerning the company’s internal decision-making process.

“It’s so frustrating to see one of the lawyers currently suing OpenAI make false claims not only about these teams, but individuals who were not involved in the process,” Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, said in an emailed statement to NPR.

“As just one example, it is absolutely false to say Chris Lehane was involved with our original referral decision, or that our investigators report to him in any way. It’s also completely untrue to say that the people at the center of these challenging decisions do not prioritize safety, or that there are ‘political’ or ‘public relations’ factors at play,” Kwon said. “We’ve been approaching this litigation with respect for both the legal process and the families and victims of this tragedy, and we’ll continue to engage in good faith with that process.”

The Tumbler Ridge shooting was one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history. Authorities said the alleged shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, killed five students and a teacher before taking her own life. About two dozen other people were injured.

Authorities later determined that Van Rootselaar had also killed her mother and her 11-year-old half-brother at their home before going to the school.