In June 2025, a ChatGPT account was shut down by parent company OpenAI after “detecting a violation” of the company’s usage policy.
OpenAI’s automated system detected the account, and it was then sent to “human review” to determine whether the company’s usage policies were violated and whether the account warranted referral to law enforcement.
“Based on what we could see at that time, the account was banned in June 2025. We did not identify credible and imminent planning that met our threshold to refer the matter to law enforcement,” says an open letter to federal AI Minister Evan Solomon on Feb. 26 from OpenAI’s vice-president of Global Policy Ann M. O’Leary.
That account belonged to the accused Tumbler Ridge shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar.
OpenAI was summoned to Ottawa by Solomon on Tuesday to discuss the artificial intelligence company’s safety protocols after a Wall Street Journal exclusive on Feb. 21 that OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, allegedly opted against informing authorities about suspected shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar’s descriptions of violence last June.
O’Leary said in the letter that OpenAI has “taken steps to strengthen our safeguards and made changes to our law enforcement referral protocol for cases involving violent activities” over the past several months.
However, she said the conversation with Solomon “underscored Canadians expect continued concrete action, and we heard that message loud and clear.” Solomon was joined by Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, and Justice Minister Sean Fraser.
The Feb. 26 letter included four actions OpenAI says it will be committing to going forward: Continuing to strengthen its enhanced law enforcement referral protocol; developing a direct point of contact with Canadian law enforcement; embedding country and community context in its de-escalation work; and enhancing its system to detect repeat policy violators.
The letter stated that “several months ago,” OpenAI partnered with mental health, behavioural, and law enforcement experts to help it refine criteria for “when conversations cross the line into an imminent and credible risk, meriting a law enforcement referral.” It added that referrals to law enforcement based on conversations with ChatGPT involve “complex, challenging decisions” to protect users’ privacy while also taking action on public safety.
The letter adds that based on the new referral protocols, Van Rootselaar’s account would be referred to law enforcement if it were discovered today.
O’Leary said OpenAI has a system in place to identify repeat policy offenders, including those who have had their ChatGPT accounts shut down for violating violent activities policy and then try to create a new account.
After Van Rootselaar’s name was released publicly, O’Leary said in the letter that OpenAI discovered the suspected shooter had used a second ChatGPT account. That account has since been shared with law enforcement.
On Feb. 25, Solomon told media in Ottawa that OpenAI had not come to the meeting with concrete solutions, which was disappointing. He said the federal government was looking for “concrete solutions” and proposals for escalation thresholds.
“Of course, a failure occurred here. I mean, look what happened. This is a horrific tragedy. I’m not going to comment on the details of the case and culpabilities. That is not for me to decide. But I will say this: We want to ensure that this does not happen again.”
B.C. Premier David Eby said Thursday that “clearly, they tragically missed the mark in bringing this information forward.”
“The consequences of that will be borne by the people of Tumbler Ridge, the families of Tumbler Ridge, for the rest of their lives. These are not small stakes, and it illustrates why these companies cannot be trusted to set their own reporting thresholds, and especially to set their own thresholds where there are no apparent consequences for not meeting them.”
Eby did not join the meeting with the federal ministers and O’Leary, but has said he’s asked staff to request a meeting with the head of OpenAI, Sam Altman. Eby said Altman has agreed to meet with him about what Open AI has done in the past, its impacts on Tumbler Ridge and the families and the position of government for a national threshold.
In the days surrounding the shooting, OpenAI was also meeting with B.C. government officials on the possibility of opening an office in Canada, specifically in B.C.
The investigation into the mass shooting remains ongoing.