The head of OpenAI has issued an apology letter to the community of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., following the mass shooting earlier this year.
In the letter, CEO Sam Altman said, “I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June.
“While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and (irreversible) loss your community has suffered.”
The company, which said it disabled shooter Jesse VanRootselaar’s account in June over “violent” activity, said in a previous statement that it had also discovered a second ChatGPT account linked to her name after the shooting, despite a system that flags repeat policy offenders.
OpenAI ultimately alerted the RCMP to the shooter’s ChatGPT activity after the mass shooting on Feb. 10.
“I want to express my deepest condolences to the entire community,” Altman wrote in the letter.
“No one should ever have to endure a tragedy like this. I cannot imagine anything worse in the world than losing a child.”
In March, the family of Maya Gebala, who was critically injured in the Feb. 10 shooting, announced they were suing OpenAI.
Eight people were killed and two others were hurt in the tragedy. Gebala was trying to lock the library door to protect other students when she was injured.
Cia Edmonds and David Gebala, Maya’s mother and father, said their daughter was struck in her neck and in the head, just above her left eye, when shooter VanRootselaar opened fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Feb. 10.
VanRootselaar had gone to the school after killing her mother, Jennifer Strang, and 11-year-old half-brother, Emmett Jacobs, at their family home in northeastern B.C.
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