OpenAI is facing another wave of lawsuits in the wake of the February mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge in Canada's province of British Columbia, which left eight people dead. On Wednesday, 30 new complaints were reportedly filed in a United States federal court in California, including teachers and students who were witnesses and survivors at the school where most of the shooting took place, joining seven initial lawsuits filed in April. The suits, brought by lawyer Jay Edelson, allege that the company knew about the intentions of the 18-year-old shooter who, in her interactions with OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, had described scenarios involving gun violence, but that the leadership did not report their concerns to law enforcement, echoing earlier lawsuits on the matter. In April, Altman penned a letter to the community apologising that the company did not alert law enforcement about the shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar. "While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered," Altman wrote in the letter.

OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman speaks at the G20 innovation ministerial summit in North Carolina on Wednesday. OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman speaks at the G20 innovation ministerial summit in North Carolina on Wednesday. The Times accuses OpenAI and its largest financial backer, Microsoft, of using millions of newspaper articles without permission to train OpenAI's popular chatbot. Other newspapers have joined in the suit, first filed in 2023. A brief has advisory rather than legal weight but could bolster tech companies as they fight the claims.

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani just announced a one-year ban of generative AI tools in public schools for students up to eighth grade. The legislation takes effect during the 2026-2027 school year and will impact around 600,000 students. "This moratorium is a commitment to getting the future right," Mayor Mamdani said. "We will embrace new technology, but only when it serves our students." New York Governor Kathy Hochul added that the state "has been leading the way in our efforts to keep kids focused on learning and growing -- not clicking and scrolling."

The US government wrote a letter in support of OpenAI's argument that training AI on others' intellectual property is fair use. The Trump Administration just took OpenAI's side in the artificial intelligence company's legal battle with the New York Times. Now, the government has stepped in, arguing that OpenAI's actions were within bounds. "Constraining LLM development under a misunderstanding of fair use doctrine would thwart such creative and scientific progress while hindering American prosperity and economic mobility," lawyers for the government wrote. While the letter focuses on the New York Times and OpenAI, the government noted that its arguments apply to all of the parties in this case and related cases, including other publishers and authors.

OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting. The suits, filed on Wednesday, allege the company's ChatGPT chatbot induced the shooter to carry out the attack in rural Canada in February, in which eight people were killed and dozens more wounded - most of them children. "These were people who really endured just total hell that day," Jay Edelson, the lead lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said in an interview. "Young kids who watched their teachers die, watched friends die and thought they were going to get shot and killed." These new lawsuits, filed in federal court for the northern district of California, come after Edelson filed seven initial suits in April - bringing the total number of cases against OpenAI for the Tumbler Ridge shooting to 37. All of the suits allege that the violent intentions of the shooter, identified as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, were well-known to the senior leadership of OpenAI, which failed to report her to the authorities.

Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series OpenAI confirms Astra has reached'critical' cyber threshold, but will be available soon OpenAI previously paused some work on Astra due to safety concerns. Timothy Beck Werth is the Tech Editor at Mashable, where he leads coverage and assignments for the Tech and Shopping verticals. Tim has over 15 years of experience as a journalist and editor, and he has particular experience covering and testing consumer technology, smart home gadgets, and men's grooming and style products. Previously, he was the Managing Editor and then Site Director of SPY.com, a men's product review and lifestyle website. As a writer for GQ, he covered everything from bull-riding competitions to the best Legos for adults, and he's also contributed to publications such as The Daily Beast, Gear Patrol, and The Awl. OpenAI confirmed on Tuesday that its unreleased Astra model has reached a dangerous new milestone, while simultaneously confirming that it was forging ahead with a public launch.

Whatever the AI future is, we're in it right now. O ne evening in early August, Sam Stowers and several neighbors packed into an apartment near San Francisco's Alamo Square and pondered the beginning of the end. Stowers and his guests, many of whom work in the AI industry, were gathered to watch a newly released YouTube video in which two OpenAI researchers divulged new details about an alarming cybersecurity breach . Perhaps this would have been an odd way to spend a weeknight were they not in San Francisco, in a neighborhood that is filled with entrepreneurs and programmers who obsessively follow every twist and turn in AI's capabilities. Stowers is an AI-software engineer and not, in any traditional sense, a doomer.

Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series OpenAI provided an update about the release of Astra, and what precautions it's taking. Timothy Beck Werth is the Tech Editor at Mashable, where he leads coverage and assignments for the Tech and Shopping verticals. Tim has over 15 years of experience as a journalist and editor, and he has particular experience covering and testing consumer technology, smart home gadgets, and men's grooming and style products. Previously, he was the Managing Editor and then Site Director of SPY.com, a men's product review and lifestyle website. As a writer for GQ, he covered everything from bull-riding competitions to the best Legos for adults, and he's also contributed to publications such as The Daily Beast, Gear Patrol, and The Awl. Do you understand quantum parallel repetition?

OpenAI Is About to Release Its First AI Model With'Critical' Cyber Abilities The company will give select partners early access to its Astra AI model--so they have time to shore up their defenses. OpenAI announced Tuesday that its forthcoming AI model, Astra, is its first to reach the company's threshold for what it calls "critical" cyber capabilities. OpenAI says it plans to publicly release a version of Astra "soon," but will make the model's advanced cyber capabilities available only to select partners in its Daybreak Blue early-access program at launch. In a briefing with reporters, OpenAI safety and security leaders said the company has concluded that Astra reaches the critical cybersecurity capabilities outlined in its preparedness framework, which sets thresholds and protocols for when its AI models pose new levels of risk. The company says an AI model has reached its critical cyber threshold when it can independently find and exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities in real-world software.

Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series Apple reveals'shocking evidence' in OpenAI trade secrets lawsuit Apple previously claimed this was just the tip of the iceberg. Apple claims it has evidence that a former employee stole trade secrets to benefit his new employer, OpenAI. Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI and two of its former employees over alleged stolen trade secrets is heating up. In a new filing, Apple says it has found shocking evidence and is asking the court for expedited discovery. Apple claims the limited information it found after a former employee's work laptop was returned to the company shows that its trade secrets are being used and evidence is being destroyed."