OpenAI commits to strengthen safety protocols after Canadian government intervention

Canadian government says OpenAI will take further steps to strengthen safety protocols

The Canadian government says that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has agreed to take steps to immediately strengthen safety protocols, . This follows a at a high school in which OpenAI and suspended his account, but did not alert authorities. These changes look to primarily involve law enforcement, with commitments to notify police about potentially suspicious use of ChatGPT. We don't have any confirmation from the company at this time, but Canada's Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon says he "asked OpenAI to take several actions, which Altman has agreed to do." Solomon attended a virtual meeting with Altman to discuss how the company "would include Canadian privacy, mental health and law enforcement experts into the process to identify and review high-risk cases involving Canadian users." He says OpenAI has pledged to provide a report to outline these new protocols. He also asked Altman to make these changes retroactively and to review previous suspicious incidents on the platform, providing law enforcement with data when necessary. We don't know if OpenAI has consented to that part. Engadget has reached out to OpenAI to ask about these changes and if they'll be exclusive to Canada. We'll update this post if we hear back. This isn't the first step the company has made to make things right with Canada. Ann O'Leary, OpenAI's VP of global policy, recently suggested that the company to better prevent banned users from returning to the platform. The company banned the alleged shooter's original account due to "potential warnings of committing real-world violence" but he was able to make another one.

Canada Says OpenAI CEO Altman Pledged to Toughen Safety Protocols

OTTAWA--Canada says OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman agreed to take immediate steps to strengthen safety protocols regarding notifying police about potentially suspicious use of the company's ChatGPT chatbot. Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon added that he also asked Altman to apply these changes retroactively and to review previous incidents that may have been referred to law enforcement for further investigation. Solomon's office issued a statement late Wednesday night summarizing a virtual meeting earlier in the day between the minister and the OpenAI CEO. The government is seeking changes to how OpenAI and other digital platforms operate following Wall Street Journal reporting that indicated company employees raised alarm bells about interactions with ChatGPT in 2025 involving an individual whom police identified last month as a suspect in a fatal school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. In 2025, OpenAI shut down Jesse Van Rootselaar's account, but it didn't notify the police. The company last week pledged to modify its protocols on alerting police, and acknowledged that under the changes the company would have alerted police about Van Rootselaar's interactions. A spokesperson for OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment about Solomon's version of events. "I asked OpenAI to take several actions, which Altman has agreed to do," Solomon said. His statement added that OpenAI committed to assess "how they would include Canadian privacy, mental health and law enforcement experts into the process to identify and review high-risk cases involving Canadian users." Solomon said OpenAI also pledged to provide a report outlining the new protocols it is developing to identify high-risk offenders and repeat policy violators. OpenAI has agreed to cooperate with investigators and with authorities in British Columbia who are set to lead a public inquest into the shooting at the remote town of Tumbler Ridge, which left eight people dead and dozens injured. Police found Van Rootselaar dead at the scene.