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Same problem, new error message?
OpenAI has yet to comment on the cause of this new outage, beyond saying it's “investigating” on ChatGPT's status page, but the service is definitely down in web browsers, and the app is showing a new error message.
Previously it was “internal server error,” but now it says “Experiencing extremely high demand.” This doesn't tell us much, but we'll wait for an explanation from OpenAI about the now-extended outage.
During the previous outage in November 2023, OpenAI was a bit more clear about the background to the issue, saying they were “dealing with periodic outages due to unusual traffic patterns that reflect a DDoS attack.” There's no indication that this is the same situation this time around, but we're continuing to follow comments from spokespeople to try to shed light on the mystery.
That's quite a big aftershock…
This second major ChatGPT outage may be larger than today's outage, according to Downdetector, but it may just be a case of bad timing.
Reports have surged in the US and UK, with thousands of people complaining that they can't access the service on the web or mobile app. As a result, it seems many people are left stranded with homework and coding challenges, so let's hope we see another fix soon.
Uh oh…
Just when it seemed like ChatGPT's health was starting to improve, the dreaded red “major outage” alert returned to OpenAI's status page.
All OpenAI is saying right now is that they are “currently investigating this issue.” Hopefully it won't take as long as the 5 hours it took to fix it last time. I've reached out to OpenAI for comment and will let you know if I hear back, but I think I might be getting a bit sidetracked at this point…
Phew, ChatGPT is back
Yep, that’s it! OpenAI’s status page now says “All systems are working” and the web and mobile apps are fully operational.
It was quite a hitch, and we still don't know what exactly caused it. We've reached out to OpenAI to find out, and will let you know if we hear back. But now that ChatGPT is back from sick leave, it's time to start asking the wildly popular chatbot some questions again…
Good news! There's a fix…
OpenAI updated its ChatGPT status page to say that “a fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results.”
So if, like us, you're still waiting to see your chatbot back on track, you should be able to question its AI brain soon. There's still no official word on the cause of the issue, but the important thing is that ChatGPT appears to be back from sick leave…
The official downtime is…
While ChatGPT appears to have recovered in the UK, OpenAI is still reporting a “major outage” and is “continuing to work on a fix.”
The first reports of the problem reached Downdetector at around 2:30AM EST / 7:30AM BST / 4:30PM AUST. However, according to OpenAI, the official outage has lasted for over two hours. Hopefully, it won't be long before we hear official news…
How does this compare to the ChatGPT outage?
ChatGPT is no stranger to outages, but this one is shaping up to be its biggest and longest so far this year: its last serious outage was exactly one year ago in May 2023, when the service was taken down for around eight hours.
While there are some signs that ChatGPT is getting back on track, nearly five hours have passed since the issues were first reported, and OpenAI's status page continues to show a major incident where the service is “unavailable to some users.”
More recently, we saw ChatGPT go off the rails briefly, with users reporting a number of confusing and even threatening responses from the bot. Even chatbots have their bad days…
Signs of life!
Today's ChatGPT issue appears to be primarily affecting logged-in users, although OpenAI is still rolling out an option to instantly use the service without logging in (announced in April), so most users are still affected.
However, it seems that the issues are slowly being resolved, and now you can fully access the latest GPT-4o models on your Plus account (via your web browser) and on the mobile app.
Downdetector is also seeing another drop in reports following a second previous spike. Now all we need is for OpenAI to deliver the good news with a more encouraging status update…
ChatGPT outage affects millions
According to an intriguing new study from the Reuters Institute and Oxford University, ChatGPT may not be used regularly by the average person, but millions of people still rely on it for coding, brainstorming, report writing, and more.
The service has around 180 million active users worldwide, with the number of users set to surge to 100 million in its first full year of operation starting in late 2022. Those who use ChatGPT regularly have made the tool a vital part of their workflow, making the increasingly lengthy outages particularly painful.
More than an hour has passed since OpenAI said it was “continuing to work on fixing” the issue, but the company's status page still has no updates.
Three hours have passed…
The number of ChatGPT users reporting outages on Downdetector appears to be declining in the US and UK, but more than three hours after the issue began, there's still no sign of an official fix. The service is still unavailable on the web or mobile apps.
OpenAI has not yet commented on the issue, but we look forward to finding out the cause when they do. When a similar ChatGPT outage occurred last November 2023, OpenAI said it was due to “anomalous traffic patterns reflective of a DDoS attack.”
There is no evidence that this is the case this time around, but the previous outage occurred during a period of instability for ChatGPT, with two outages in two days, and ChatGPT fans will be hoping that this doesn't happen again.
During…
The ChatGPT outage appears to be global, with reports from X (formerly Twitter) that it is affecting the US, UK, France, New Zealand, and many other countries.
While we wait for OpenAI engineers to dig into ChatGPT and fix the issues, it might be worth checking out the best ChatGPT alternatives. Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot must be enjoying this outage. I wonder how many people will sign up and try Claude 3 today…
It doesn't seem like it can be solved anytime soon
The latest from OpenAI The update suggests that ChatGPT's issues won't be easily resolved: its status page has changed from orange to red, saying it is “continuing to work on fixing this issue.”
There has been no direct word from OpenAI as to why, but we should know soon, or else everyone will have to start using pre-ChatGPT tools for brainstorming and coding.
What is causing the issue?
OpenAI has yet to reveal the cause of ChatGPT's current issues, but at this point it appears to be a simple server outage.
Most users are either unable to access the website in their browser (they get a “bad gateway” response) or are unable to send messages via the web or app version.
ChatGPT's status page states that the issues have not yet been resolved, so it's time for rival chatbot users like Copilot to start bragging.
OpenAI has “identified the problem”
OpenAI hasn't said anything about the ChatGPT issues on social media, but its status page states that it has “identified and is mitigating the issue” as of 1.32PDT.
In theory, a fix shouldn't be far away, but Downdetector reports continue to spike in the UK (though they appear to be stabilizing in the US).
When did the ChatGPT problems start?
According to Downdetector, the first reports of ChatGPT's outage began around two hours ago, at 2:30am EST / 7:30am IDT / 4:30pm AEST.
At its peak, there were around 2,300 reports of issues in the US and around 1,000 in the UK – a significant number and suggesting that a significant proportion of users were unable to use the service.
Currently, ChatGPT is not available in either a web browser or the iOS mobile app, with the latter returning an “internal server error.”
