Danger was flagged, but not reported: What the Tumbler Ridge tragedy reveals about Canada’s AI governance vacuum
The Conversation • • world
Key Points:
- Eight months before the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting, OpenAI flagged Jesse Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account for violent content but chose to ban the account without notifying law enforcement, as it did not meet the company’s internal threshold for intervention.
- The tragedy highlights a significant gap in Canadian law, as there is no clear legal framework assigning responsibility to AI companies when they possess information that could prevent violence.
- Unlike social media, AI chatbots involve private, intimate conversations where users disclose violent thoughts, but current Canadian mental health laws like the Tarasoff principle apply only to trained clinicians, not AI companies or their staff.
- Canadian AI and online harm legislation died when Parliament was prorogued, leaving only voluntary codes of
