A significant outage has disrupted the services of ChatGPT, the widely utilized AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, affecting thousands of users around the globe, including many in Pakistan. The incident began around midday IST, as reported by monitoring service Downdetector, generating a flurry of complaints from users facing difficulties in accessing the platform.
Reports indicate that over 1,000 users in the United Kingdom and close to 500 in the United States experienced issues, primarily characterized by error messages stating, “If this issue persists, please contact us through our help center at (link unavailable).” The disruption has led to widespread unease, as users expressed their frustrations on social networks such as X, previously known as Twitter, highlighting complications with both the web interface and mobile applications.
The outage has been described as a global phenomenon, with reports surfacing from various regions, including India and Japan. Users have taken to social media to voice their discontent. Phrases like “ChatGPT is down” and “I realized how important ChatGPT is in my daily interactions,” have become commonplace. This increased vocalization reflects the crucial role that AI chatbots play in everyday life, both personally and professionally.
OpenAI has acknowledged the ongoing outage and is actively conducting an investigation to ascertain the root cause of the failures. The company is working diligently towards implementing a resolution, although specific recovery time has not yet been communicated.
