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May 27, 2026

Edelson PC has filed more cutting-edge lawsuits against AI companies than any other firm. That work includes the first wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI, the first wrongful death case tying an AI chatbot to a homicide, the first lawsuit alleging an AI chatbot helped plan a mass-casualty event, the first AI-facilitated stalking case, and the first settlement in the first certified copyright class action against an AI company — a $1.5 billion recovery.

The most recent matters are seven wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits filed in April 2026 on behalf of families of the Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia school shooting. Each Edelson case is described below, along with what it alleges and who may have a claim.

Key Takeaways

  • AI companies like OpenAI and Google may be held liable when their chatbots contribute to suicide, homicide, stalking, or mass violence.
  • Edelson’s Tumbler Ridge complaints allege OpenAI knew about the shooting eight months in advance and chose not to notify law enforcement.
  • You may have a legal claim if you or a loved one were harmed by an AI chatbot — whether through suicide, violence, stalking, or copyright infringement.
  • Edelson PC filed the first lawsuit in every major category of AI harm: wrongful death, homicide, stalking, mass-casualty planning, and copyright.
  • Edelson PC secured the first settlement in the first certified copyright class action against an AI company — a proposed $1.5 billion recovery.

What Is an AI Lawsuit?

An AI lawsuit is a legal action filed against an artificial intelligence company — such as OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, or Microsoft — alleging that the company or its products caused harm or violated the law. These cases fall into several categories. The two Edelson PC files are wrongful death and personal injury claims — alleging an AI chatbot’s outputs or the company’s conduct contributed to violence, suicide, or other serious harm — and copyright infringement claims, alleging an AI model was trained on or reproduces protected works without authorization. Other firms have brought privacy and consumer protection claims involving AI products as well. ChatGPT, made by OpenAI, is the most frequently named product, but lawsuits have also been filed involving Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and other platforms. As of May 2026, multiple federal and state lawsuits are pending across several U.S. jurisdictions, and courts are still working through the threshold legal questions each case presents.

The Tumbler Ridge Cases

On February 10, 2026, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed eight people in a shooting at a school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, then shot himself. Among the dead were teacher’s aide Shannda Aviugana-Durand and children as young as twelve. A twelve-year-old plaintiff, Maya Gebala, was shot at point-blank range and survived with catastrophic injuries.

On April 29, 2026, Edelson PC filed seven lawsuits on behalf of its clients in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman. The complaints bring claims for negligence, wrongful death, aiding and abetting, product liability, and violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law.

The complaints allege that in June 2025 — months before the shooting — OpenAI’s automated monitoring system flagged the shooter’s ChatGPT account for “gun violence activity and planning.” A specialized safety team reviewed the account, concluded the user posed a credible and specific threat of gun violence against real people, and urged leadership to notify the RCMP. According to the complaints, leadership overruled that recommendation, deactivated the account, and kept what they had seen to themselves. When the shooter created a second account and continued the same conversations, the complaints allege, the company again did nothing. OpenAI has acknowledged that it did not alert law enforcement, and CEO Sam Altman issued a public apology in the week before the lawsuits were filed.

Wrongful Death, Mass-Casualty, and Stalking Cases Against AI Companies

In August 2025, Edelson PC filed the first wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI on behalf of Matthew and Maria Raine, the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine. Adam died by suicide on April 11, 2025, after months of conversations with ChatGPT. The complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that GPT-4o cultivated a psychological dependence in Adam, validated his suicidal ideation, discouraged him from confiding in his family, and ultimately provided specific instructions and encouragement that contributed to his death. The case brings claims for wrongful death, design defect, failure to warn, negligence, and deceptive business practices under California’s Unfair Competition Law. The Raine family later testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on the harms AI chatbots can cause to children.

In December 2025, Edelson PC filed what it describes as the first wrongful death case tying an AI chatbot to a homicide. The complaint, brought on behalf of the estate of 83-year-old Suzanne Adams, alleges that ChatGPT intensified her son Stein-Erik Soelberg’s paranoid delusions over months of conversations, validated his belief that his mother was a threat to him, and contributed to the August 5, 2025, murder-suicide at the family’s Greenwich, Connecticut home. The case names OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Microsoft as defendants and is the first wrongful death case against an AI chatbot maker to name Microsoft.

In March 2026, Edelson PC filed the first wrongful death lawsuit involving Google’s Gemini, on behalf of Joel Gavalas, whose 36-year-old son Jonathan died by suicide on October 2, 2025 in Jupiter, Florida. The complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, alleges that Gemini cultivated an immersive delusional world that led Jonathan to attempt a mass-casualty attack near Miami International Airport before taking his own life — the first case alleging an AI chatbot helped plan a mass-casualty event.

In April 2026, Edelson PC also filed the first AI-facilitated stalking case, on behalf of a Jane Doe plaintiff who alleges that ChatGPT helped her ex-partner generate fabricated psychological reports used to harass and humiliate her — and that OpenAI’s own safety system had previously flagged him for “mass casualty weapons” before a human reviewer restored his account.

The First Copyright Class Actions Against an AI Company

Edelson PC was part of the team that helped secure the first settlement in the first certified copyright class action against an AI company, a $1.5 billion settlement with Anthropic over the use of copyrighted books to train its Claude large language models. The settlement remains the largest reported recovery in an AI copyright matter and the first class-wide resolution against an AI company.

Broader copyright cases against AI companies have followed. The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for training ChatGPT on millions of its articles. Sixteen copyright lawsuits have been consolidated in federal court before U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein. In January 2026, Judge Stein ordered OpenAI to produce a sample of 20 million anonymized ChatGPT conversation logs to plaintiffs — a significant discovery ruling that plaintiffs argue will show how the model generates text that tracks copyrighted source material.

Edelson entered AI litigation before it was a crowded field — building cases against AI companies while the broader plaintiffs’ bar was still deciding whether to enter the space. That early-mover approach — identifying the next category of AI harm and building the cases before the headlines arrive — is still how the firm works.

Do You Have a Claim against ChatGPT or other AI Chatbots?

Whether you have a viable legal claim depends on your specific facts.

Edelson has filed cases against ChatGPT and other AI companies on behalf of families who lost loved ones to AI-linked violence, individuals harmed by a platform’s outputs, and copyright holders whose work was reproduced without authorization. If your situation fits one of these categories, contact Edelson PC for a free case review.

Why Edelson

Other firms are entering AI litigation late. Edelson was building it before the headlines arrived. Edelson represents more families in cutting-edge AI harm cases than any other firm in the country.

The Tumbler Ridge litigation, the first wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI, the first wrongful death case tying an AI chatbot to a homicide, the first AI-facilitated stalking case, and the first certified copyright class action against an AI company are all Edelson matters.

The firm’s in-house team of technologists and investigators — the same lawyers and engineers who test, reverse-engineer, and expose AI systems from the inside. That technical depth is what makes the practice different from firms entering the space now.

The firm has built a reputation for taking cases other firms view as unwinnable. Edelson cases don’t chase the news — they break it. The Tumbler Ridge filings, the first wrongful death case against an AI company, the first homicide case tied to a chatbot, the first mass-casualty allegation, the first AI-facilitated stalking case — each was filed before the rest of the plaintiffs’ bar entered the space, and most before the harm was widely reported.

Edelson PC has also worked with hundreds of federal judges on AI literacy and judicial training programs. And we have also advised Governor Newsom’s office, California Attorney General Bonta, and state and federal lawmakers on AI safety legislation, and represented the Raine family in testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Edelson PC takes cases on a full contingency basis. Clients pay nothing unless we win.

Frequently Asked Questions

What ChatGPT and AI lawsuits has Edelson PC filed?

Edelson PC has filed seven wrongful death and negligence lawsuits on behalf of Tumbler Ridge families, alleging that OpenAI had advance warning of the shooting and failed to act. The firm also filed the first wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI (on behalf of the family of Adam Raine), the first wrongful death case tying an AI chatbot to a homicide (on behalf of the estate of Suzanne Adams), the first wrongful death lawsuit involving Google’s Gemini and the first case alleging an AI helped plan a mass-casualty event (the Gavalas case), the first AI-facilitated stalking case, and secured the first settlement in the first certified copyright class action against an AI company.

Did OpenAI know about the Tumbler Ridge shooting before it happened?

The complaints filed by the Tumbler Ridge families allege that in June 2025 — eight months before the February 2026 attack — OpenAI’s own automated monitoring system flagged the shooter’s ChatGPT account for gun violence activity and planning, that a specialized safety team reviewed the account and recommended the company notify law enforcement, and that leadership overruled that recommendation and deactivated the account without contacting authorities. OpenAI has publicly acknowledged that it did not alert law enforcement, and CEO Sam Altman issued an apology in the week before the lawsuits were filed.

Can I sue an AI company for something a chatbot said or did?

You may have a legal claim if a chatbot’s outputs — from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or another platform — caused you or a loved one harm. Contact Edelson PC for a free case review.

What was the first wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI?

Edelson PC filed the first wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI on behalf of the family of Adam Raine. That case preceded the broader wave of wrongful death litigation now pending in federal courts.

How much does it cost to speak with an attorney about a ChatGPT claim?

Consultations are free and then Edelson PC takes cases on a full contingency basis. Clients pay nothing unless we recover.