In a letter to residents of Tumbler Ridge, Canada, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he “deeply regrets” that his company did not notify police about the suspect in the recent mass shooting.
After police identified 18-year-old Jess Van Rutselaar as the suspected gunman, who killed eight people, the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI flagged and banned Van Rutselaar’s ChatGPT account in June 2025 after she described scenarios involving gun violence.
Company staff debated notifying the police but ultimately decided against it, eventually turning to Canadian authorities after the shooting.
OpenAI has since said it is improving security protocols, for example by introducing more flexible criteria for determining when accounts are reported to authorities and establishing direct points of contact with Canadian law enforcement, reports “TechCrunch“.
