- OpenAI CEO apologizes for not alerting police to banned user.
- Teenager used banned account before fatal shooting spree.
- Company banned account for violent activity months prior.
- Tragedy claimed eight lives, including five children.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has issued a public apology after the company failed to alert law enforcement about the online behaviour of a teenager who later carried out a deadly shooting in Canada.
In a letter shared on Friday, Altman expressed “deepest condolences” to the affected community, acknowledging that the company did not report an account it had banned months before the attack. “I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,” he wrote, adding that an apology was necessary to recognise the “irreversible loss” suffered by the victims’ families.
Missed Warning Signs Before Tragedy That Claimed Eight Lives
According to police, the February 10 attack in Tumbler Ridge was carried out by an 18-year-old identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar. Authorities say she fatally shot her 39-year-old mother, Jennifer Jacobs, and 11-year-old stepbrother, Emmett Jacobs, at their home before opening fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. Five children and an educator were killed in the school shooting, before the attacker died by suicide. At least 25 others were injured.
OpenAI later disclosed that it had identified the suspect’s account in June through its abuse detection systems for potential “furtherance of violent activities”. The company banned the account for violating its policies, but decided at the time that the activity did not meet the threshold to be reported to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The letter, dated Thursday, was shared on the social media account of British Columbia Premier David Eby and also published by local outlet Tumbler RidgeLines.
Pressure Mounts Over Tech Accountability
Following the attack, Eby had suggested that OpenAI may have had an opportunity to help prevent the tragedy. In his letter, Altman said he had spoken with the premier and Tumbler Ridge mayor Darryl Krakowka, who conveyed the “anger, sadness and concern” within the community. Both agreed that a public apology was warranted, though it came after a period of mourning.
“I want to express my deepest condolences to the entire community,” Altman wrote. “No one should ever have to endure a tragedy like this. I cannot imagine anything worse than losing a child.”
He also reaffirmed OpenAI’s commitment to improving safeguards to help prevent similar incidents in the future.
