Mikkel Christensen
OpenAI weighed whether to contact Canadian authorities months before a teenager carried out one of the country’s deadliest school shootings.
OpenAI weighed whether to contact Canadian authorities months before a teenager carried out one of the country’s deadliest school shootings.
The company ultimately decided the case did not meet its threshold for notifying law enforcement at the time.
According to Theguardian, OpenAI identified the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar in June 2025 through its abuse detection systems for “furtherance of violent activities.”
Internal review
The San Francisco-based company said it considered referring the account to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but concluded that the activity did not amount to an imminent and credible threat of serious physical harm.
OpenAI banned the account in June 2025 for violating its usage policies.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the company had reviewed whether to alert authorities before the attack.
Tragic attack
Last week, the 18-year-old killed eight people in a remote area of British Columbia before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police said Van Rootselaar first killed her mother and stepbrother at their home before attacking a nearby school in Tumbler Ridge, a town of about 2,700 residents in the Canadian Rockies.
Among the victims were a 39-year-old teaching assistant and five students aged 12 to 13. Authorities have said the suspect had previous mental health-related interactions with police. The motive remains unclear.
Aftermath and response
OpenAI said that once it learned of the shooting, staff contacted the RCMP and shared information about the individual’s use of ChatGPT.
“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the Tumbler Ridge tragedy,” an OpenAI spokesperson said. “We proactively reached out to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with information on the individual and their use of ChatGPT, and we’ll continue to support their investigation.”
The attack is the deadliest mass killing in Canada since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that left another nine dead.
Sources: Theguardian
