British Columbia's attorney general says she has asked the federal government to change the Criminal Code to ensure accountability for artificial intelligence companies after a "disturbing" report that OpenAI's chatbot coached the Tumbler Ridge shooter before the deadly attack.
Niki Sharma says she hasn't received a response because of the "rapidly evolving" situation but there needs to be a clearer path to human and corporate accountability for the actions of AI.
U.S.-based magazine Mother Jones reported details of the alleged interactions between shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar and OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot in which it vividly described the effectiveness of a shotgun in a classroom.
Federal AI Minister Evan Solomon's office says a statement that Solomon "was not previously aware of the specific conversations detailed in the Mother Jones report."
The Mother Jones report published Thursday says ChatGPT advised the 18-year-old shooter how to get around its own safeguards to obtain information about violent scenarios by framing the content as fictional.
Solomon's office says in the statement that while OpenAI has taken measures since the February shooting in which eight victims were killed, including five students at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, it's too soon to say if the company has done enough.
This report by was first published Sept. 25, 2026.