US man arrested as second suspect in Canada mass school shooting planned with ChatGPT

Key Points:

• James Codey Bryant, a 30-year-old from Washington state, was arrested by the US Department of Justice on conspiracy charges related to a mass school shooting in Canada, where an 18-year-old suspect killed six children.
• Bryant allegedly provided money and technical advice to the shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, for six months before the attack, including helping her with practical issues like starting a car to reach the school.
• Van Rootselaar had planned the attack with the AI chatbot ChatGPT, which flagged her behavior internally but did not report it to authorities; she also maintained contact with Bryant via the messaging service Omegle.
• Authorities revealed Bryant encouraged deleting messages and using VPNs to avoid detection, and while he tried to dissuade Van Rootselaar from the attack, he did not alert law enforcement and agreed to livestream the shooting.
• The FBI is prosecuting Bryant in the US and continues to collaborate with Canadian authorities; victims’ families have sued OpenAI for failing to report Van Rootselaar’s concerning interactions with ChatGPT.