Sam Altman has formally apologized to the community of Tumbler Ridge, BC, after a mass shooting in February.
According to CNN,the head of OpenAI admitted his company did not alert authorities to the shooter’s disturbing online conversations with its AI chatbot even after staff flagged the account internally.
“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,” Altman wrote in a letter dated April 23 and addressed to the community of Tumbler Ridge.
“While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered,” he added.
Altman’s letter was posted on X Friday by the premier of the province of British Columbia, David Eby.
“OpenAI 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,” wrote Eby.
OpenAI faced scrutiny after it admitted that the account of the 18-year-old shooter wasn’t reported to police even after staff at the company noted the link to gun violence.
Police in BC say the shooter killed eight people, including six children at the local school, in February.
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’s pain was “unimaginable.”
