AI Company Spotted Warning Signs Before Canadian School Shooting

The artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT reveals it flagged a user's account months before that person carried out a deadly school shooting in Canada. OpenAI says it considered contacting police but decided the activity didn't meet their threshold for law enforcement referral.

The company responsible for creating ChatGPT announced Friday that it had flagged suspicious activity from a user who would later become responsible for one of Canada’s most devastating school attacks.

OpenAI revealed that in June of last year, their monitoring systems detected concerning behavior from Jesse Van Rootselaar’s account, specifically activities that appeared to promote violence.

The artificial intelligence firm, based in San Francisco, weighed whether to notify the Royal Canadian Mounted Police about the account but ultimately decided the user’s actions fell short of their criteria for contacting authorities. The company terminated Van Rootselaar’s access to their platform in June 2025 due to policy violations.

Last week, the 18-year-old perpetrator took the lives of eight individuals in a secluded area of British Columbia before taking her own life with a firearm.

According to OpenAI, their standard for involving law enforcement requires evidence of immediate and believable threats of severe physical violence against others. Company officials stated they found no concrete or urgent planning at that time. This information was initially disclosed by The Wall Street Journal.

Following news of the tragic incident, OpenAI personnel contacted the RCMP to share details about the shooter and how ChatGPT had been used.

“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the Tumbler Ridge tragedy. We proactively reached out to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with information on the individual and their use of ChatGPT, and we’ll continue to support their investigation,” an OpenAI spokesperson said.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Kris Clark verified through email Friday that the AI company had made contact with law enforcement following the shooting incident.

Clark explained that investigators are conducting a “thorough review of the content on electronic devices, as well as social media and online activities” related to Van Rootselaar. He noted that “digital and physical evidence is being collected, prioritized, and methodically processed.”

Authorities report that Van Rootselaar began the attack by killing her mother and stepbrother at their residence before proceeding to assault the local school. The perpetrator had previously been in contact with police regarding mental health issues.

Investigators have not yet determined what motivated the shooting.

The remote community of 2,700 residents sits in the Canadian Rockies, located over 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) northeast of Vancouver, close to the Alberta provincial boundary. Law enforcement confirmed the casualties included a 39-year-old teaching assistant and five students between the ages of 12 and 13.

This incident represents Canada’s most lethal mass violence event since 2020, when an individual in Nova Scotia murdered 13 people and started fires that claimed nine additional lives.