ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is facing scrutiny from Canadian authorities after the company revealed it had identified and considered reporting a user, Jesse Van Rootselaar, months before he committed one of the country's worst school shootings. Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon confirmed Monday that he has summoned OpenAI's top safety representatives to Ottawa to explain the company's protocols and its decision-making process regarding referrals to law enforcement.

OpenAI stated that in June, it identified Van Rootselaar's account through abuse detection efforts for activity related to the “furtherance of violent activities.” Despite this identification, the San Francisco-based technology company decided not to refer the account to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at the time, concluding that the activity did not meet their established threshold for law enforcement referral. This threshold, according to OpenAI, requires an “imminent and credible risk of serious physical harm to others,” which the company claimed was not present in Van Rootselaar's online interactions. OpenAI subsequently banned the account in June for violating its usage policy.

Months later, this month, the 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar carried out a horrific attack in a remote part of British Columbia, killing eight people before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The victims included his mother and stepbrother at their family home, followed by a 39-year-old teaching assistant and five students, aged 12 to 13, at a nearby school in Tumbler Ridge, a town located over 1,000 kilometers northeast of Vancouver in the Canadian Rockies. Police indicated that Van Rootselaar had a history of mental health contacts, though the motive for the shooting remains unclear.

Minister Solomon reacted swiftly after reports, initially broken by The Wall Street Journal, revealed OpenAI's prior knowledge and subsequent inaction. Solomon expressed that Canadians expect their children to be kept safe and that organizations like OpenAI act responsibly. He confirmed that some of his representatives had already met with OpenAI officials on Sunday, ahead of the formal meeting. While Solomon did not specify whether the Canadian government plans to regulate AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, he emphasized that “all options are on the table.”

OpenAI acknowledged that it was only after learning of the tragic school shooting that its employees reached out to the RCMP with information concerning Van Rootselaar and his use of ChatGPT. This incident marks Canada’s deadliest rampage since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires resulting in nine more deaths.