OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman issued a public apology to residents of Tumbler Ridge, Canada, after it emerged the company had banned a ChatGPT account belonging to suspected mass shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar in June 2025 following violent content, but chose not to alert police. Eight people died in the subsequent attack. Altman said he had spoken with Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka and British Columbia Premier David Eby, and all agreed a public apology was necessary. OpenAI has since revised its safety protocols to establish clearer criteria for referring accounts to law enforcement and set up direct contacts with Canadian authorities. Eby described the apology as necessary but wholly insufficient given the devastation suffered by victims’ families. Canadian officials said they are considering new AI regulations.
Separately, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that OpenAI is developing a smartphone in collaboration with MediaTek, Qualcomm, and manufacturing partner Luxshare. Kuo said the device would be built around AI agents rather than traditional apps, allowing OpenAI to bypass the restrictions imposed by Apple and Google on system access. The phone would combine on-device and cloud-based models and is designed to continuously understand user context. Component suppliers are expected to be finalised by early 2027, with mass production targeted for 2028. OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane had previously confirmed a hardware product announcement was planned for the second half of 2026.
