ChatGPT down for hours globally

1 min readDec 13, 20248:38 AM

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AI chatbot ChatGPT suffered outage globally for several hours Thursday before resuming services.

“ChatGPT, API, and Sora were down today but we’ve recovered,” the parent company OpenAI said in a post on X at around 1:00 p.m.

It referred to API, a cloud interface that gives users access to AI models, and Sora, the new video generation AI model.

OpenAI’s data shows that a “major outage” occurred for 4 hours and 10 minutes Thursday morning.

But at the time of publishing the issues have been resolved.

“All services are now fully operational,” OpenAI said in a note on its website, adding that it will run a full root-cause analysis of the outage and will share details when complete.

Users began reporting outages at around 7:00 a.m, according to Downdetector, a platform which tracks the status of websites.

In the U.S., nearly 28,500 people were unable to access ChatGPT as of 7:40 a.m.

ChatGPT, launched in 2022, has more than 300 million weekly active users, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said earlier this month.

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What this means

The recent 4-hour ChatGPT outage signals a significant vulnerability for retailers integrating AI into their operations. This disruption, affecting a service with over 300 million weekly active users, poses a tangible risk to operational efficiency and customer engagement in Asia, where AI adoption is rapidly accelerating. While direct comparisons in AI service reliability are nascent, the incident pressure rivals to demonstrate superior uptime and stability. For example, similar to how new market entrants like PharmaResearch in Sephora Singapore needed flawless execution, AI providers must deliver consistent service. The key question now becomes whether OpenAI can regain full user confidence. Watch for their public release of the root-cause analysis findings.

Aiko Tanaka · Retail News Asia newsroom

Questions & Answers

What is the parent company of ChatGPT, API, and Sora?

OpenAI is the parent company behind ChatGPT, API, and Sora. The company confirmed on X that all three services experienced downtime during the recent global outage. They have since stated that services are fully operational again.

How long did the major outage last for ChatGPT and its related services?

OpenAI's data indicates that the major outage lasted for 4 hours and 10 minutes on Thursday morning. Downdetector reported users began experiencing issues around 7:00 a.m., with services fully restored later that day.

Will OpenAI provide more information about why the outage occurred?

Yes, OpenAI has confirmed they will conduct a full root-cause analysis of the outage. They stated that details from this analysis will be shared with the public once the investigation is complete. This suggests transparency regarding the incident.

How many users does ChatGPT have on a weekly basis?

ChatGPT currently has over 300 million weekly active users, as stated by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman earlier this month. This significant user base was affected when the service experienced a global outage on Thursday.

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