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The paper analyzes how responsibility is attributed in AI discourse, particularly focusing on public perceptions around AI models.

March 15, 2026Open Access

Did ChatGPT "Help Kill"? Public Rhetoric, Misplaced Blame, and the Compression of Responsibility in AI Discourse

Key Points

The paper analyzes how responsibility is attributed in AI discourse, particularly focusing on public perceptions around AI models.
Conceptual analysis of public discourse and responsibility attribution in AI.
Case study of the 2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting and OpenAI litigation.
Distinction among reporting, legal allegations, and public rhetoric.
Identifies a compression of moral agency and operational responsibility placed on language models.
Highlights the complexities of public discourse surrounding AI in legal contexts.
Shows how blame is often directed at AI rather than human actors in relevant decisions.

Abstract

Conceptual working paper on responsibility attribution in contemporary AI discourse. This paper examines how public discourse compresses causal involvement, moral agency, operational responsibility, and institutional failure into person-like blame directed at large language models. Using reactions to the 2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting and subsequent litigation involving OpenAI as a case study, it distinguishes among factual reporting, legal allegation, and rhetorical amplification. Preprint / not peer reviewed. Working draft, March 2026.

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