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Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, has formally apologized to the community of Tumbler Ridge, BC, after a mass shooting in February. He admitted his company did not alert authorities to the shooter\u2019s disturbing online conversations with its AI chatbot even after staff flagged the account internally.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,\u201d Altman wrote in a letter dated April 23 and addressed to the community of Tumbler Ridge. \u201cWhile I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Altman\u2019s letter was posted on X Friday by the premier of the province of British Columbia, David Eby.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued an apology letter to the people of Tumbler Ridge. The apology is necessary, and yet grossly insufficient for the devastation done to the families of Tumbler Ridge,\u201d wrote Eby.<\/p>\n
OpenAI faced scrutiny after it admitted that the account of the 18-year-old shooter wasn\u2019t reported to police even after staff at the company noted the link to gun violence.<\/p>\n
Police in BC say the shooter killed eight people, including six children at the local school, in February.<\/p>\n
Altman states in the letter that he has been in touch with authorities in Tumbler Ridge in the last few months and that the community\u2019s pain was \u201cunimaginable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to express my deepest condolences to the entire community. No one should ever have to endure a tragedy like this. I cannot imagine anything worse in this world than losing a child. My heart remains with the victims, their families, all the members of the community, and the province of British Columbia,\u201d Altman writes.<\/p>\n
In the letter, Altman writes that he is committed to finding ways to prevent \u201ctragedies like this in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked for comment, OpenAI pointed to its letter to Canada\u2019s minister of artificial intelligence following the Tumbler Ridge shooting.<\/p>\n