Canadian officials will demand explanations from OpenAI’s safety team after the company did not alert police about a banned account belonging to a school shooter.
TORONTO: Canadian officials have summoned senior executives from OpenAI for a high-level meeting on Tuesday to demand explanations about the company’s safety protocols. The meeting follows revelations that OpenAI did not alert police about a banned ChatGPT account belonging to mass shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar.
Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon confirmed the meeting, stating senior members of OpenAI’s safety team will travel from the United States to Ottawa. “We will have an explanation of their safety protocols, and when they escalate, and their threshold of escalation to police,” Solomon told reporters.
OpenAI confirmed the meeting in a statement, saying senior leaders will discuss the company’s “overall approach to safety, safeguards we have in place, and how we continuously work to strengthen them”. The company added it is “doing all we can to support the ongoing investigation” into what it called a “devastating tragedy”.
Van Rootselaar, 18, killed eight people in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on February 10 before taking her own life. OpenAI stated it banned the shooter’s account in June 2025 after systems flagged it for “misuses of our models in furtherance of violent activities”.
The company considered referring the account to law enforcement but determined it did not meet the internal threshold for reporting. OpenAI’s criteria require an “imminent and credible risk of serious physical harm to others” to warrant police notification.
The case has intensified scrutiny of tech companies’ obligations to report threatening user activity. Minister Solomon stated “all options are on the table” regarding future protections from online harm, citing a forthcoming bill on online privacy and data.
“Canadians expect, first of all, that children, particularly, are kept safe and that these organizations act in a responsible manner,” Solomon said. OpenAI later contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after the shooting to provide information about Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT use.
RCMP Staff Sergeant Kris Clark confirmed OpenAI reached out to police after the shooting but provided no additional details. Police records indicate Van Rootselaar had previous mental-health-related interactions with authorities before the attack in the town of 2,400 people.
The Sun Malaysia
