Sam Altman apologizes for not flagging authorities to mass shooter's ChatGPT account

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has apologized to members of a Canadian community where a mass shooting took place earlier this year for not flagging the ChatGPT account of the shooter to law enforcement. "The pain your community has endured is unimaginable," Altman wrote in a letter shared Friday on social media by the British Columbia Premier David Eby. "I have been thinking of you often over the past few months." Eight people were killed in the Feb. 10 massacre in the small community of Tumbler Ridge in northeast British Columbia. Six people were fatally shot when 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar opened fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, authorities said, and the shooter's mother and 11-year-old brother were killed at a nearby residence. Van Rootselaar died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said. Altman wrote in the letter, dated Thursday, that Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT account had been banned in June 2025 — about eight months prior to the shooting. "I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June," Altman said. In February, OpenAI told CBS News that Van Rootselaar's account had been flagged last year by automated abuse detection tools and human investigators that identify potential misuses of ChatGPT for violent activities. OpenAI said the account was then banned for violating its usage policies. …