• OpenAI monitored user activity months before deadly school shooting

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, revealed that it tracked a user’s activity months before she carried out a terrifying school shooting at a remote Canadian school, which left eight people dead.

The company said its team identified the account of Jessie Van Routsler in June during routine monitoring for activity that could indicate potential violence.

At the time, they determined that the account’s behavior did not meet the threshold for notifying law enforcement.

OpenAI explained that intervention is only triggered when there is a clear and imminent risk of serious physical harm to others, and no verified indicators of such planning were detected.

The account was later suspended in June 2025 for violating the platform’s terms of use. After the shooting, OpenAI staff shared relevant information with authorities to assist their investigation.

The attack killed eight people in a remote area of British Columbia, including a 39-year-old teaching assistant and five students aged 12 to 13. The 18-year-old perpetrator also died from a self-inflicted gunshot.

Authorities said the shooter began by killing her mother and brother at home before heading to the nearby school. She had a history of mental health issues, and the motive behind the attack remains unclear.

The town of Tumbler Ridge, home to around 2,700 people, is located in the Canadian Rockies over 1,000 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, near the Alberta border.

This incident is the deadliest attack in Canada since 2020, when an armed man killed 13 people and started fires in Nova Scotia, resulting in nine more deaths.

An OpenAI spokesperson said: “Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the Tumbler Ridge tragedy. We will continue supporting the investigation by providing any relevant information about the user account.”