ChatGPT Access Restored After Thursday Afternoon Outage

On Thursday afternoon, a widespread issue disrupted ChatGPT’s functionality for many users, who found themselves unable to receive responses to their queries. Instead of the usual AI-generated replies, users were met with error messages, such as an "internal server error." This outage affected users across various platforms where ChatGPT is available, making it temporarily inaccessible.The issue prompted frustration as many users were left without access to the service for a period.

The cause of the disruption has not been publicly clarified, though it is likely related to server-side issues or technical difficulties with the platform’s infrastructure. As of now, no specific timeline for resolution has been provided, but the technical team likely worked to resolve the issue as quickly as possible to restore normal service. This disruption highlights the occasional vulnerability of online services, especially AI-powered tools, which rely on complex backend systems to function.The outage affecting ChatGPT and other OpenAI services began around 1:30 PM ET on Thursday, with reports of issues starting to spike on Down Detector. Users began experiencing disruptions, with many unable to access the chatbot or receive responses, seeing an “internal server error” message instead.

At 2 PM ET, OpenAI acknowledged the problem on its status page, stating that ChatGPT, the API, and its text-to-video generator Sora were all experiencing high error rates. By 6:15 PM ET, OpenAI provided an update indicating that Sora had been fully restored, and the APIs were starting to recover. However, OpenAI noted that they were still working on a full resolution for ChatGPT and its APIs, and continued to monitor the situation. The outage highlighted the occasional instability of complex AI systems, though OpenAI made efforts to quickly address the problem and bring services back online.ChatGPT experienced widespread outages on Thursday afternoon, leaving many users unable to receive responses and displaying an "internal server error" message. The issue appeared to begin around 1:30 PM ET, as reports of disruptions surged on Down Detector.

By 2 PM ET, OpenAI acknowledged the issue, posting an update on its status page. The company confirmed that ChatGPT, the API, and its text-to-video generator Sora were all encountering "high error rates."At 6:15 PM ET, OpenAI updated users, stating that Sora was fully operational and that API services were starting to recover. However, OpenAI mentioned that work was still underway to resolve issues with ChatGPT and its APIs, with the company continuing to monitor the situation.While OpenAI did not specify the "upstream provider" causing the disruption, Microsoft, OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider, reported a "power issue" at one of its data centers around the same time. The outage impacted not only OpenAI services but also Xbox cloud gaming in North America.

Just after 5 PM ET, Microsoft confirmed that it had "fully restored" power to the affected datacenter, which had caused disruptions to OpenAI services.ChatGPT has experienced several outages in recent months. Earlier this month, shortly after OpenAI released Sora to ChatGPT subscribers, both Sora and ChatGPT went down for hours. Additionally, in June, a widespread outage impacted AI tools, causing ChatGPT to be temporarily unavailable to users. These disruptions highlight the ongoing challenges with maintaining the stability of AI services amid high demand.