OpenAI Considered Alerting Police Over Suspected Canadian Shooter’s Chats

An 18-year-old allegedly responsible for a mass shooting that killed eight in Tumbler Ridge, Canada, reportedly used OpenAI’s ChatGPT in concerning ways, alarming the company’s staff. Jesse Van Rootselaar’s chats about gun violence were flagged and subsequently banned in June 2025. Although OpenAI staff considered contacting Canadian law enforcement, they did not do so because Van Rootselaar’s actions did not meet the reporting criteria; they reached out after the incident. Besides ChatGPT usage, Van Rootselaar created a Roblox game simulating a mall shooting and posted about guns on Reddit. She was also known to local police following a drug-related incident. OpenAI’s LLM chatbots and others have faced criticism for potentially causing mental health issues in users. Several lawsuits involve chat transcripts encouraging or assisting in suicide. *If you are in a crisis or having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.*