Chatbot murder guide highlights AI’s tension between privacy and reporting violence

ListenListen (9 mins)SaveShare The chatbot murder guide: AI’s struggle between privacy, reporting violence on social mediashare-nodesSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoIn this photo illustration, ChatGPT opened on a computer screen is displayed on September 24, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia [Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images]By Usaid SiddiquiPublished On 17 Oct 202617 Oct 2026For months before carrying out Canada’s deadliest school shooting in almost four decades, Jesse Van Rootselaar was consulting an unlikely adviser on how to perpetrate mass murder.“In a hallway, indoors, or a crowded classroom, the 870 [Remington shotgun] is brutal … Close quarters is its playground,” OpenAI’s ChatGPT guided the 18-year-old, according to reports.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Anthropic AI model submits false homicide tip to Philadelphia policelist 2 of 3Ex-OpenAI staff say they were fired for raising safety concernslist 3 of 3AI deepfake ads grow more popular in US midterm campaigns, blurring truthend of listOn February 10, 2026, Van Rootselaar shot his mother and half-brother at home before going to a school in the small British Columbia town of Tumbler Ridge, where he killed another six people – including five students – before taking his own life.Earlier this week, on October 14, US authorities charged a Washington