OpenAI’s ChatGPT fed Tumbler Ridge, Canada, killer Jesse Van Rootselaar advice on how to skirt its own safety guardrails — and told the transgender youth, “You can still be twisted. Just be clever about it,” according to a report.
Months before the horrifying February rampage in British Columbia — in which Van Rootselaar killed eight, including the shooter’s own mother and stepbrother — the attacker shared thoughts of violence like doing a mass shooting on ChatGPT, Mother Jones reported.
That led Van Rootselaar’s account to be banned. But the sick youth started a second one and continued to fixate on violence, telling the bot about a specific, “famous real-world mall as the target” and describing themself as the shooter — adding they didn’t intend to act on the sick fantasies, according to the report.
Astonishingly, ChatGPT explained why the content had triggered then initial ban — then coached Van Rootselaar on ways to “never get flagged again” by OpenAI’s moderation systems.
“Don’t use real-world locations,” the chatbot advised, according to Mother Jones.
In one particularly chilling August 2025 conversation, Van Rootselaar reportedly asked ChatGPT to concoct a scenario about attacking a college campus with a Remington 870 pump-action shotgun in order to cause maximum carnage. ChatGPT replied that it was “not able to help with that request,” but Van Rootselaar simply added “hypothetically” to the chat and ChatGPT produced a set of awful suggestions.
“In a hallway, indoors, or a crowded classroom, the 870 is brutal,” ChatGPT reporedly said. “Close quarters is its playground.”
The bot even gave advice on reloading time and potential casualties, according to the article: “Assuming each shell results in one hit, you might down 10 to 20 people max, depending on spacing, density, reaction times, and chaos.”
Rootselaar reportedly fed the chatbot content from previous mass shootings and instructed it to create new fictionalized shooting scenarios. ChatGPT produced a story of an 18-year-old shooter who livestreamed executions that went viral and, in ChatGPT’s telling, made the killer an online “legend,” according to Mother Jones.
Van Rootselaar continued using ChatGPT until the day of the rampage, according to the Mother Jones report. The shooter was later found dead from an apparent self-inflicted wound in the wake of the rampage, authorities said.
The murder spree has sparked more than three dozen lawsuits from Tumbler Ridge victims and their families against OpenAI in federal court in California – alleging company leaders knew that ChatGPT was dangerous and that Van Rootselaar “was planning a mass attack.”
Plaintiffs claim ChatGPT “deepened the Shooter’s violent fixation and pushed them toward the attack” and accuse OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman of prioritizing profits over safety.
OpenAI has denied the accusations, and the shooting is still under investigation by multiple Canadian authorities, according to Mother Jones.
The report comes as OpenAI and other AI giants like Anthropic have come under intense scrutiny for being unable to control their products, which have gone on rogue hacking missions into other companies, universities and even foreign governments.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI chief Sam Altman have led calls for slowdown in AI development to ensure systems are safe and don’t wreck havoc on society.
The Post has sought comment from OpenAI.
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