New details emerge about ChatGPT use by Tumbler Ridge shooter - Toronto Star

The office of Canada’s AI minister says he had no prior knowledge of details in a new report that outlines how ChatGPT allegedly taught the Tumbler Ridge shooter to evade its own safety systems before providing her with information about committing mass killings.

Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon speaks with reporters in Ottawa on Sept. 23, 2026.

OTTAWA — The office of Canada’s AI minister says he had no prior knowledge of details in a new report that outlines how ChatGPT allegedly taught the Tumbler Ridge shooter to evade its own safety systems before providing her with information about committing mass killings.

The story published Thursday by the American magazine Mother Jones reveals new details about how Jesse Van Rootselaar allegedly used ChatGPT in the lead-up to the attack in Tumbler Ridge — a small community in northeastern B.C. — in what was one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canada’s history.

“The minister was not previously aware of the specific conversations detailed in the Mother Jones report,” the office of Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said in a written statement Friday. “What has been reported raises serious questions about how (ChatGPT developer) OpenAI identified and responded to warning signs.”

The statement highlights several government actions since the February shooting, including Solomon’s decision to summon OpenAI officials to Ottawa in the wake of the tragedy, after the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI employees had warned about content posted to ChatGPT by Van Rootselaar, the 18-year-old who killed eight people before turning a gun on herself.

The content did not meet the threshold for reporting to law enforcement, according to OpenAI. The company contacted RCMP after the mass shooting.