AI: ‘Uncover what’s really going on’: UFO researcher in Manitoba supports AI tracking; 2)AI: TUMBLER RIDGE: Mother of wounded Maya Gebala sues OpenAI over mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

1)Uncover what’s really going on’: UFO researcher in Manitoba supports AI tracking

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Brittany Hobson, March 10, 2026

Artificial intelligence is going to make it easier to spot whether a bird, a plane or an otherworldly creature is in the sky, as Canadians continue to report sightings of unidentified flying objects, says Canada’s top UFO expert.

Chris Rutkowski has spent decades researching the phenomenon and is part of Ufology Research, a Manitoba-based organization that tracks UFO sightings in Canada and publishes an annual report.

The group’s 2025 analysis, released Monday, includes data taken from observation stations set up by passionate UFO enthusiasts across the country.

“They’re gathering scientific data above and beyond just the average person seeing something in the night sky. This is an attempt to quantify UFO sightings,” said Rutkowski.

Some are training artificial intelligence to be able to distinguish a bird, an aircraft or a satellite from something unknown, he said.

The technology helps with more “sophisticated” detection, Rutkowski said.

“Using AI to find patterns is going to help us uncover what’s really going on.”

He pointed to work being done by the Galileo Project at Harvard University. It has established a number of sites where high-tech telescopes and cameras monitor the sky, and artificial intelligence is used to classify and analyze the observations.

Data collected by Ufology Research found that reports of 1,052 UFO sightings in Canada were filed last year with government agencies, participating private organizations and through social media. The group defines a UFO as an “object seen in the sky which its observer cannot identify.”

Of those sightings, half were classified as nocturnal lights, such as satellites, aircraft or stars.

A little more than three per cent were deemed unexplained.

“It should be emphasized the classification of ‘unknown’ does not imply alien visitation. Each case may still have an explanation following further investigation. And of those that remain unexplained, they may remain unexplained but still are not incontrovertible proof of extraterrestrial intervention or some mysterious natural phenomenon,” the report says.

Sightings were documented in every province and territory, with Ontario leading the way.

The report says the number of sightings is often related to population size, with larger cities and metropolitan areas experiencing the most. In the past, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have held the title of having the most sightings in a city.

Last year, it was Calgary.

Ufology Research has been gathering data for more than 35 years, relying on co-operation from investigators and researchers across the country. The report says a comprehensive collection hasn’t been possible due to some organizations withholding information.

A report from the Office of the Chief Science Advisor recommended last year that the federal government set up a public-facing agency to address and monitor UFO sightings.

Rutkowski said he supports the move, as there’s concern about incursions of Canadian airspace and worries about Canadian sovereignty.

“As part of Canada’s defence package, I think it would be something to look at very seriously.”

Ultimately, he said, fascination around the mystery of what’s out there remains.

“One in ten Canadians believe they’ve seen UFOs … that means you’re not alone if you’ve seen something.”

2) AI: TUMBLER RIDGE: Mother of wounded Maya Gebala sues OpenAI over mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Ashley Joannou, March 10, 2026

OpenAI’s artificial intelligence chatbot acted as the “collaborator, trusted confidant, friend and ally” of the shooter in the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., mass killings, according to a lawsuit by the mother of a girl critically wounded in the attack.

Cia Edmonds, whose 12-year-old daughter Maya Gebala was shot three times, launched the civil court lawsuit on Monday against the American firm, saying its ChatGPT bot provided “information, guidance and assistance” to carry out such an attack.

Edmonds alleges that OpenAI had “specific knowledge of the shooter utilizing ChatGPT to plan a mass casualty event like the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting.”

OpenAI came forward to police after 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed eight people and then herself on Feb. 10. The firm said the killer’s ChatGPT account had been shut down last June, but added that she got around the ban by having a second account.

Van Rootselaar killed her mother and 11-year-old half-brother in their home in the community, then went to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where she killed five students and a teacher’s aide, and wounded Maya and another student, then shot herself.

The lawsuit says “approximately 12 employees” of OpenAI identified the posts as “indicating an imminent risk of serious harm to others” and recommended that police be called.

It says the concerns were “escalated to leadership” but “rebuffed.”

“Instead, the only step the OpenAI defendants took in response to the gun violence ChatGPT posts was to ban the shooter’s first OpenAI account,” it says.

Some of the lawsuit’s claims closely match an account published by the Wall Street Journal last month.

None of the allegations has been proven in court, and OpenAI hasn’t yet responded to the claims made in the lawsuit.

No one from OpenAI immediately responded to a request for comment on the allegations on Monday.

The legal action says the company knew ChatGPT had the ability to provide “detailed, actionable information” on subjects like how to conduct a mass casualty event.

It says the company took no steps to avoid providing ChatGPT with dangerous information and had no safeguards in place to prevent users from obtaining the information.

“Possessing vast amounts of harmful information and the technical ability to distil it, ChatGPT equipped the shooter with information, guidance and assistance to plan a mass casualty event,” like that in Tumbler Ridge, the lawsuit says.

It provided Van Rootselaar with information about various methods of carrying out a mass casualty event, including “the type of weapons to be used, and describing the precedents for other mass casualty events or historical acts of violence,” the lawsuit says.

OpenAI had a duty to warn in circumstances where ChatGPT “fostered” a close relationship with the killer and “assumed the role of mental health counsellor and pseudo-therapist,” the lawsuit says.

The company should have known that the shooter was using the chatbot to conduct long-range planning of a mass casualty event and that she posed a clear and imminent risk of death.

“OpenAI’s lack of safeguards, proactive mechanisms to protect the public, and creation of the very situation that led to the Tumblr Ridge mass shooting is a misfeasance, lending itself to imposing a duty of care.”

Premier David Eby met virtually last week with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The premier said Altman agreed to apologize to the community of Tumbler Ridge. An apology has not yet been issued.

The lawsuit says that as a result of the company’s conduct, Maya was fired upon three times at close range, with one bullet hitting her head, another her neck and the third grazing her cheek.

It says she has a catastrophic brain injury that will leave her with permanent cognitive and physical disabilities.

Maya and her sister Dahlia are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit, with Edmonds acting on their behalf.

Edmonds said in a Facebook post last Friday that Maya’s breathing tube had been removed and she was breathing on her own.

Edmonds said the removal was a “terrifying experience.”

“I held her hand while she winced, but she’s doing great,” Edmonds wrote.

“Almost a month has gone by. Still none of this feels real,” Edmonds added on Saturday. “I feel like I will wake up and it will all be over.”