In case you were working with ChatGPT on December 26, you may have noticed that the OpenAI platform went down. During the mass outage, users of the artificial intelligence tool complained that they were unable to submit questions and load their ChatGPTs. Many reported at about 1:30 p.m ET that after giving the platform a prompt, ChatGPT didn’t load an answer. So, what is the reason behind the outage?
At 11:00 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET on December 26, OpenAI acknowledged the widespread issue on its status website. The announcement read, “We are currently experiencing an issue with high error rates on ChatGPT, the API and Sora. We are currently investigating and will post an update as soon as we are able.”
OpenAI’s recent issue isn’t the only technological outage we’ve seen this year. In early December 2024, Meta’s platforms, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, all went down, causing pandemonium on the internet. The outage prevented users from posting photos or status updates. Meta itself had to confirm the problem via X (previously known as Twitter).
Find out the reason behind ChatGPT’s mass outage and get a status update, below.
Is ChatGPT Still Down?
ChatGPT is still down for many users as of December 27, 2024. OpenAI updated its status to note that ChatGPT was “mostly recovered” and the company was still working on fixing the issue.
According to Downdetector, more than 15,000 people reported the outage at about 2:00 p.m. ET on December 26. By 3:00 p.m. that day, about 3,900 people had reported problems to Downdetector.
Why Is ChatGPT Having an Outage?
At 11:18 a.m. PT/2:18 p.m. ET, OpenAI confirmed the reason for its outage. “This issue is caused by an upstream provider, and we are currently monitoring,” the platform noted.
An upstream provider is typically an internet service provider (ISP) that connects the ISP to the platform. In short, a platform’s internet provider is failing to connect its data effectively. This, in turn, prevents the end user from accessing their stored data.
How Many Times Has ChatGPT Gone Down in 2024?
According to multiple outlets, ChatGPT and other OpenAI platforms experienced several outages throughout 2024. In June, ChatGPT went down for users around the world.
