Tumbler Ridge Massacre | OpenAI has been aware of the shooter’s worrying activities for months
OpenAI considered alerting law enforcement to Jesse Van Rootselaar’s disturbing activities on ChatGPT months before the Tumbler Ridge shootings.
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Last June, Jesse Van Rootselaar described scenarios of gun violence to the chatbot ChatGPT several days in a row, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.
A few months later, on February 10, the young woman shot and killed her mother and half-brother at their home in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, before going to the high school in this small community, where she killed six other people, most of them children. The attacker then killed herself.
Jesse Van Rootselaar’s activities on ChatGPT have been reported by an automatic rating system.
Her writings worried a dozen OpenAI employees, some of whom saw the young woman’s activities as a sign of potential real violence.
They urged their superiors to notify the Canadian authorities, again according to the sources of the Wall Street Journal.
However, OpenAI decided not to notify the authorities.
PHOTO ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE, PROVIDED BY THE CANADIAN PRESS
Jesse Van Rootselaar
An OpenAI spokesperson told Wall Street Journal that the company had banned Jesse Van Rootselaar’s account. However, his activities did not meet the necessary conditions to notify law enforcement, since they did not represent a credible and imminent risk to the lives of others, according to the spokesperson.
Collaboration with the RCMP
After the tragedy of February 10, which also left some 25 injured, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) identified Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, as the attacker. After the tragedy, OpenAI contacted the RCMP, and it is collaborating in the investigation, according to the company spokesperson.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Thousands of people gathered in memory of the victims of the shootings in front of Tumbler Ridge City Hall on February 13.
“Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the Tumbler Ridge tragedy,” the company wrote in a statement.
Jesse Van Rootselaar was already known to local police before the killing. The authorities had intervened at her home on several occasions for events related to her mental health, in addition to temporarily removing firearms from her home.
A team of specialist investigators is currently reviewing the young woman’s digital activities in search of clues linked to the killing.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, a video game created by Jesse Van Rootselaar on the Roblox platform surfaced. The game simulated a mall shooting and allowed the player-controlled character to choose from a selection of weapons to take down other characters. The game was never approved for distribution.
Archived social media footage also shows Jesse Van Rootselaar practicing with a rifle at a shooting range.
The shooter also claimed to have created a cartridge with a 3D printer, in archived publications, in addition to having exchanged on forums about YouTube videos broadcast by firearms enthusiasts.
With the Wall Street Journal
