OpenAI’s Altman apologizes for not alerting police before Tumbler Ridge killings

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued a public apology Friday for his company’s failure to notify police about the online activity of Jesse Van Rootselaar, the 18-year-old who killed eight people in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on Feb. 10.

In a letter dated Thursday and published on B.C. Premier David Eby’s social media and the local outlet Tumbler RidgeLines, Altman said OpenAI had identified and banned Van Rootselaar’s account last June for the ‘furtherance of violent activities’ but concluded at the time that the activity did not meet the company’s internal threshold for a law enforcement referral. “I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,” Altman wrote.

The apology comes roughly three months after Van Rootselaar shot and killed her mother, Jennifer Jacobs, 39, and stepbrother, Emmett Jacobs, 11, at their home before opening fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, killing five children and one educator. Twenty-five others were injured before Van Rootselaar killed herself.

Eby, who said shortly after the shooting that OpenAI appeared to have had an opportunity to prevent the attack, called the apology “necessary, and yet grossly insufficient for the devastation done to the families of Tumbler Ridge.” Altman said he had spoken with Eby and Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka before publishing the letter, and both agreed a public apology was warranted.

Altman pledged continued cooperation with government at all levels to prevent similar tragedies, though no specific policy changes were announced.