OpenAI chief apologizes for not reporting shooting suspect to police

Published: 2026-04-25 04:13:23 ET MSFT

Published on 04/25/2026 at 04:13 am EDT - Modified on 04/25/2026 at 04:16 am EDT

April 25 (Reuters) - OpenAI Chief Sam Altman apologized to the Canadian community of Tumbler Ridge for failing to alert police about a banned account linked to Jesse Van Rootselaar, who police say killed eight people in a school in February before taking her own life.

o In a letter dated April 23, Altman said he was "deeply sorry" that law enforcement was not alerted to Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT account, which had been banned in June.

o OpenAI had earlier said it had banned Van Rootselaar's account last year for policy violations, but the issues did not meet its internal criteria for reporting to law enforcement.

o Altman said he had spoken with Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka and British Columbia Premier David Eby about the tragedy, describing the community's pain as "unimaginable."

o He said the company is committed to working with government officials to help prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.

(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru and Mrinmay Dey in Mexico; Editing by Aidan Lewis)