On Thursday afternoon, many users experienced issues with ChatGPT, as the AI app suffered glitches. OpenAI confirmed that ChatGPT outages were affecting some users, with the problem first occurring around 1:30 p.m. Eastern. The company reported that the service was facing high error rates, primarily due to an issue with an upstream provider. By 5:05 p.m. Eastern, OpenAI shared that the app had partially recovered, but problems persisted, including trouble loading chat history. The company continued to work on resolving the issue, providing updates on their status page.
As a result of these ChatGPT outages, more than 15,000 reports were filed by users, primarily related to disruptions in the ChatGPT service. Downdetector, an online platform that monitors the status of websites, recorded a significant surge in complaints, though the number of incidents decreased to under 700 by Thursday evening. This indicates that the problem was largely resolved within a few hours, although some lingering issues persisted for a while.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT service, which was launched in 2022, has become widely popular, with over 200 million active users as of late summer. Many Fortune 500 companies rely on OpenAI’s products and the API (Application Programming Interface), which enables software programs to communicate with each other. Despite the brief downtime, ChatGPT’s popularity remains strong, and OpenAI is working to prevent similar outages in the future.
These ChatGPT outages serve as a reminder of the reliance on AI technology in daily business operations, and how disruptions, even brief, can have significant effects on users and companies. OpenAI’s swift response to the problem showcases its commitment to ensuring the stability of its services.
