OpenAI’s ChatGPT service faced significant performance issues on Tuesday, resulting in widespread outages for many users, with reports highlighting inaccessibility and errors on platforms like X and Reddit.
According to Downdetector, issues with ChatGPT started around 3 AM ET, a timing confirmed by OpenAI’s official status page, which noted “elevated error rates and latency” beginning at the same time. The disruption was not limited to ChatGPT, as it also affected its Sora text-to-video AI service and OpenAI APIs.
At 5:23 AM ET, OpenAI added a specific status entry for “elevated error rates on Sora.” Later updates classified the issues for both ChatGPT and Sora as a “partial outage.” The impact on users varied; some were completely unable to access ChatGPT, receiving a “Hmm…something seems to have gone wrong” message, while others could connect but experienced significant slowness and delayed responses. However, some users were able to use the service without encountering problems.
The disruption also had a ripple effect on services relying on OpenAI’s models. Perplexity, an AI search engine, reported experiencing outages and “slowness and elevated error rates” starting around 7 AM ET, as indicated by Downdetector.
As of 6:32 PM ET, OpenAI’s tracker indicated signs of recovery, reporting a “full recovery in the API” and stating that “Nearly all ChatGPT components are now working properly for all users.” However, the voice mode feature for ChatGPT was still experiencing elevated error rates at that time.
