Seven weeks after promising to do so, the CEO of OpenAI has sent an apology letter to the community of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., as the company is under fire for not alerting police about the mass shooter’s concerning use of ChatGPT.
“I want to express my deepest condolences to the entire community. No one should ever have to endure a tragedy like this,” Sam Altman wrote in the letter dated April 23. “I cannot imagine anything worse than losing a child. My heart remains with the victims, their families, all members of the community, and the province of British Columbia.”
Sharing the letter on social media, B.C. Premier David Eby said the apology is necessary, yet “grossly insufficient for the devastation done to the families of Tumbler Ridge.” On multiple occasions, the premier has harshly criticized the AI company’s failure to notify police about Jesse Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT activity before she killed her mother, sibling, five students and a teacher’s aid, and then herself the in the small northern B.C. town on Feb. 10.
“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,” Altman continued.
OpenAI previously said the shooter’s account was flagged by an automated system for violating user policies but human reviewers did not find “credible and imminent planning” of violence that met the threshold to notify police.
Details about the perpetrator’s conversations with ChatGPT have not been released.
The company also said that Van Rootselaar got around the ban by making a second account, which OpenAI only learned about after her name was released by RCMP.
“While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered,” Altman wrote.
“I reaffirm the commitment I made to the mayor and premier to find ways to prevent tragedies like this in the future. Going forward, our focus will continue to be working with all levels of government to help ensure something like this never happens again,” the letter concludes.
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In early March, Eby said that Altman had promised to issue a public apology addressing the AI chatbot’s role in the horrific shooting.
In his letter, Altman says he, Eby and Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka agreed a public apology was necessary but “time was also needed to respect the community as (they) grieved.”
“I share this letter with the understanding that everyone grieves in their own way and in their own time,” he wrote.
In February, OpenAI vice-president of global policy Ann O’Leary said the company had strengthened its policies in the wake of the shooting and that if the current protocols were in place in June 2025, Van Rootselaar’s account would be referred to law enforcement.
Federal Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon also said Altman agreed to establish a point of contact with the RCMP and add protocols that direct people in crisis to local support services.
The mother of 12-year-old victim Maya Gebala—who was shot three times and remains in hospital—has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI alleging its chatbot provided “information, guidance and assistance” on how to carry out the attack and the company had “specific knowledge of the shooter utilizing ChatGPT to plan a mass casualty event,” which it did not act on. The allegations have not been proven in court.
Meanwhile, Eby has called on the federal government to create a standardized threshold requiring AI companies to report problematic usage to law enforcement.
A yet-to-be-scheduled coroner’s inquest is also expected to address the role of AI in the tragedy.
With files from The Canadian Press
