OpenAI Tells Canada It Will Strengthen Safety Protocols After Mass Shooting Left Eight Dead

By Paul Vieira

OTTAWA--OpenAI made a series of pledges Thursday to Canadian officials to bolster safety protocols following the fatal shooting in British Columbia in which the suspect interacted with its chatbot.

The company said it would have more flexible criteria under which accounts are referred to law enforcement agencies. Further, it said it would establish direct points of contact with Canadian law-enforcement officials, help direct users in distress to relevant local support agencies, and toughen its detection system to prevent attempts to evade safeguards.

"These immediate commitments are only the first step in the work we must do in partnership with the Canadian government to improve AI safety," said Ann O'Leary, vice-president of global policy at OpenAI. "With the benefit of our continued learnings, under our enhanced law enforcement referral protocol, we would refer the account banned in June 2025 to law enforcement if it were discovered today."

The pledges come after OpenAI executives met with senior Canadian officials this week. Police have identified Jesse Van Rootselaar as the suspect in a fatal shooting at a school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia this month that killed eight people and left dozens injured. Police said Van Rootselaar was found dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted injury at the school scene.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that OpenAI considered alerting Canadian law enforcement authorities about interactions between Van Rootselaar and ChatGPT. Some OpenAI employees worried the suspect's writings were a warning about potential real-world violence, the Journal reported.

OpenAI shut down Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT account in June after detecting a violation of its policy, but did not notify police.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 26, 2026 18:34 ET (23:34 GMT)