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OpenAI’s ChatGPT experienced significant downtime, affecting users globally. What has caused the major outage in 90 days, and how was it fixed?
Many people complained on social media that the chatbot wasn’t processing their inquiries. Some claimed the website was inaccessible, while others said they could not create responses.
OpenAI stated that the issue has been resolved as of the latest update. But what was the reason behind it?
ChatGPT Is Down: Details
When we attempted to access the service from the desktop, the AI chatbot refused to allow us to enter any prompts—it displayed a blank page, and the instructions would not go through.
We also attempted to use the chatbot via the MacOS app, which prompted a server error.
On Android, the chatbot stated:
“Request is not allowed. Please try again later.”
According to Downdetector, a website that tracks the online status of various services, the outage started around 11:30 PM Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).
OpenAI’s status website detailed the timeline: the issue started being investigated at 12:21 AM PDT and was identified at 01:32 AM PDT. As of 02:00 AM PDT, engineers were still working on a fix. At 04:45 AM PDT, OpenAI announced the issue as resolved.
This was the longest major outage recorded over the past 90 days, with 2 hours and 19 minutes of downtime.
Notably, the API remained operational, suggesting third-party services using OpenAI’s technology were unaffected.
ChatGPT Outage Memes
ChatGPT is trending on X (formerly Twitter), as thousands of users flocked to it to complain about the downtime. While some resorted to sharing memes, some simply expressed their displeasure.
Everyone coming to X to confirm chatgpt down#chatgptpic.twitter.com/JShouWDWVt
— Rudra 🔱 (@invincible39) June 4, 2024
#ChatGPT is down. What if it never comes back and we have to use our own brains to write stuff again?
— tokyo_todd (@tokyo_todd) June 4, 2024
Looks like #ChatGPT is down right now. So how am I supposed to work without it? 😁 pic.twitter.com/ZHcRlgjoZ4
— Aleks S (@avshelestov) June 4, 2024
https://twitter.com/_ab9z/status/1797917470193516945
Background
This outage comes at a time when generative AI tools like ChatGPT are gaining significant public awareness and usage, according to a new report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Based on surveys across six countries conducted between 28 March and 30 April 2024, the report found that around 50% of the online population has heard of ChatGPT, making it the most widely recognized generative AI product.
In fact, its use was two or three times more widespread than the next most widely used products, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot.
However, the report also notes that:
Frequent use of ChatGPT is rare. Just 1% use it on a daily basis in Japan, rising to 2% in France and the UK and 7% in the USA.
Many have only used it once or twice, suggesting generative AI has yet to become integrated into most people’s routine internet usage.
Despite this, the report highlights growing public interest and adoption of generative AI tools like ChatGPT. While frequent usage remains limited, the researchers found notable differences across age groups.
As Dr. Richard Fletcher, one of the report’s authors, stated:
Younger people are much more likely to use generative AI products regularly. Averaging across all six countries, 56% of 18–24s say they have used ChatGPT at least once, compared to 16% of those aged 55 and over.
