The CEO of OpenAI has agreed to apologize to the community of Tumbler Ridge in the wake of last month’s horrific mass shooting, and to help develop recommendations for mandatory reporting of potentially harmful uses of artificial intelligence, according to B.C. Premier David Eby.

Eby said those commitments were made during a “tough” conference call Thursday afternoon with Sam Altman, OpenAI vice-president of global policy Ann O’Leary, Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka and members of the premier’s staff.

“Mr. Altman is prepared to apologize,” Eby said. “Everybody on the call recognized that an apology is nowhere near sufficient, but also that it is completely necessary.”

OpenAI previously confirmed a ChatGPT account connected to shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar was banned last year, and that the company considered notifying police about concerning interaction that violated its policies but ultimately chose not to do so—a decision that has faced sharp criticism, including from Eby.

“OpenAI had the opportunity to notify authorities and potentially even to prevent this tragedy from happening,” he said Thursday.

“It’s obviously an incredibly devastating reality, but it’s the reality we’re in.”

Going forward, Eby said his government will be pushing for federal “duty to report” standards, and that OpenAI has agreed to participate in order to ensure such regulations “would be effective” and “could actually be implemented.”

CTV News has reached out to OpenAI to confirm the company’s commitments. This article will be updated if a response is received.

Eby credited Altman for participating in the call, acknowledging he was not obligated to do so, and suggested that, based on a review by the premier’s staff, OpenAI has higher reporting standards than any similar companies operating in Canada.

“For clarity, I don’t believe OpenAI’s current standard is sufficient,” Eby added.

“Where there is an option to report, that option to not report could be taken again.”

The company previously confirmed that it turned over information on Rootselaar’s account to the RCMP following last month’s tragedy, and has been co-operating with law enforcement.

OpenAI has also said its policies have been strengthened in light of the incident, which marked one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history.

In a letter to Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Soloman last week, O’Leary said those changes would have resulted in Van Rootselaar’s account being flagged to police.

“Based on what we could see at that time the account was banned in June 2025, we did not identify credible and imminent planning that met our threshold to refer the matter to law enforcement,” O’Leary wrote.