ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has said it considered alerting Canadian police last year about the activities of a person who months later committed one of the worst school shootings in the country’s history.

OpenAI said last June the company identified the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar via abuse detection efforts for “furtherance of violent activities”.

The San Francisco tech company said on Friday it considered whether to refer the account to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) but determined at the time that the account activity did not meet a threshold for referral to law enforcement.

OpenAI banned the account in June 2025 for violating its usage policy.

  • Glide@lemmy.ca
    152·
    2 months ago

    Ha, no, fuck off, OpenAI.

    And how many times have you flagged someone for “furtherance of violent activities” that DIDN’T go forward to shoot up a school, or do much of anything you should intervene in? ChatGPT can’t even brainstorm multiple choice questions on a short story without hallucinating bullshit, and you want us to believe it’d be effective as the thought police?

    This is a cherry-picked argument being used to begin legitimizing AI for more serious uses, such as making legal decisions. This is not Minority Report; AI can fuck off with charging people with pre-crime.

    “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”