OpenAI says Canada mass shooter evaded ban with second ChatGPT account

OTTAWA, Ontario — ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said Thursday the shooter in one of the worst school shootings in Canada's history got around a ban on her problematic use of the service by having a second account. The revelation came as the San Francisco tech company outlined in a letter to Canada's government some “immediate steps” it was taking in response to the killings, and that if these had been in place at the time, police would have been informed of the activity on the account. OpenAI's vice president for global policy, Ann O’Leary, said the company only discovered the second account after Jesse Van Rootselaar’s name was announced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who said Van Rootselaar killed eight people and then herself in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on Feb. 10. She said the shooter somehow evaded systems to prevent banned users from creating new accounts, and Van Rootselaar’s second account was shared with law enforcement upon its discovery. The letter said OpenAI is committed to strengthening its detection systems to better prevent attempts to evade its safeguar