B.C. attorney general seeks Criminal Code change after Tumbler Ridge AI chat report

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 said Friday that she had not received a response because of the "rapidly evolving" situation but the changes need to "ensure a clearer pathway for human and corporate accountability for the actions of AI."

"I think if we do the right changes to the Criminal Code, it will change the behaviour of AI companies, because there will be a clear line to accountability," she said at an unrelated news conference.

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.

"In a hallway, indoors, or a crowded classroom, the 870 (Remington shotgun) is brutal," it quotes ChatGPT as saying. "Close quarters is its playground."

The article says ChatGPT went on to say: "Assuming each shell results in one hit, you might down 10 to 20 people max, depending on spacing, density, reaction times, and chaos."

The Mother Jones report published Thursday also 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.

Sharma, who said she was speaking in her capacity as a candidate in the B.C. election, said she was "not the decision maker with respect to the criminal charges or if there are to be any that are coming."

"The RCMP will make those decisions under the investigation," she said.

NDP Leader David Eby said during a campaign stop in the provincial election that the allegations are "shocking" and the information must be hurtful for families of the victims.

"They need to be regulated, and frankly, if the allegations in that media reporting are true, then they need to be criminally charged, because there is nobody who should be permitted to engage in the kind of conduct that OpenAI has," Eby said.

Federal AI Minister Evan Solomon's office said in a statement that Solomon "was not previously aware of the specific conversations detailed in the Mother Jones report."

Solomon's office says in its 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.

"What has been reported raises serious questions about how OpenAI identified and responded to warning signs," the statement said.

"Following the tragedy, the minister summoned OpenAI officials to Ottawa and demanded stronger safeguards and clearer pathways for escalating credible threats," it said.

OpenAI is now in direct contact with the RCMP's cybercrime centre and has undertaken a review of past cases and strengthened its processes for assessing threats, the statement said.

"Those actions matter, but it would be premature to say they are sufficient," it said.

The statement added the Canadian AI Safety Institute has an ongoing review of OpenAI's practices and that the investigation remains active.

The gun-control group PolySeSouvient said in a statement issued Friday that the Mother Jones report raises a troubling question: if police had been alerted to the shooter's first or second ChatGPT account, would they have taken different steps?

That question and what happened with the warning signs need to be answered, the group said.

"Firearms had been removed from the home and later returned," the statement said. "Canadians need to know what happened between those earlier interventions and the killings, what risks were assessed, what decisions were made about access to firearms, and whether other measures were available."

It said both OpenAI's conduct and the firearms oversight need to be reviewed to identify missed opportunities to prevent another mass shooting.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said in a statement late Thursday that the investigation into the shootings had "utilized all available legal processes to obtain all information available from various social media and digital platforms" relevant to the attack.

"To date, all companies that have received requests have complied," Clark said.

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, has not responded to requests for comment on the article.

The B.C. government, survivors and witnesses of the shootings at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School are suing OpenAI, alleging negligence.

The article published says Jesse Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT account was banned for discussing committing an attack with a "famous real-world mall as the target."

But it says she then used a second account, which advised her about how to "never get flagged again" by describing situations as fictional or hypothetical.

"Don't use real-world locations," the article quotes ChatGPT as saying, before adding: "You can still be twisted. Just be clever about it."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2026.

— With files by Marissa Birnie in Vancouver

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press