OpenAI’s Sam Altman apologizes to Canadian community after failing to flag mass shooter’s conversations with its AI chatbot

By Paula Newton, CNN

Ottawa (CNN) — Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, has formally apologized to the community of Tumbler Ridge, BC, after a mass shooting in February. He admitted his company did not alert authorities to the shooter’s disturbing online conversations with its AI chatbot even after staff flagged the account internally.

“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,” Altman wrote in a letter dated April 23 and addressed to the community of Tumbler Ridge. “While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered.”

Altman’s letter was posted on X Friday by the premier of the province of British Columbia, David Eby.

“OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued an apology letter to the people of Tumbler Ridge. The apology is necessary, and yet grossly insufficient for the devastation done to the families of Tumbler Ridge,” wrote Eby.

OpenAI faced scrutiny after it admitted that the account of the 18-year-old shooter wasn’t reported to police even after staff at the company noted the link to gun violence.

Police in BC say the shooter killed eight people, including six children at the local school, in February.

Altman states in the letter that he has been in touch with authorities in Tumbler Ridge in the last few months and that the community’s pain was “unimaginable.”

“I want to express my deepest condolences to the entire community. No one should ever have to endure a tragedy like this. I cannot imagine anything worse in this world than losing a child. My heart remains with the victims, their families, all the members of the community, and the province of British Columbia,” Altman writes.

In the letter, Altman writes that he is committed to finding ways to prevent “tragedies like this in the future.”

When asked for comment, OpenAI pointed to its letter to Canada’s minister of artificial intelligence following the Tumbler Ridge shooting.

CNN’s Hadas Gold contributed reporting.

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