Canadian ministers warned OpenAI that unless it swiftly strengthened its safety protocols following a recent school shooting, the government would move to mandate the changes through legislation, a senior official said Wednesday.
Ottawa summoned OpenAI's safety team for talks on Tuesday after the ChatGPT maker said it had not contacted police about an account that it banned belonging to an alleged mass shooter. Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, is suspected of killing eight people on Feb. 10 before taking her own life in a small town in British Columbia.
OpenAI said it banned her account last year on ChatGPT for policy violations, which it said did not meet internal criteria for reporting to law enforcement.
"The message that we delivered, in no uncertain terms, was that we have an expectation that there are going to be changes implemented, and if they're not forthcoming very quickly, the government is going to be making changes," Justice Minister Sean Fraser told reporters.
OpenAI was not immediately available for comment.
