OpenAI is actively addressing a significant outage that has affected several of its applications, notably including ChatGPT. The company publicly acknowledged the disruptions shortly after 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, confirming that “most” services including ChatGPT, the API, and Sora were experiencing downtime.
The situation was first detected at 2 p.m. when an error status page indicated high error rates for these services, prompting an immediate investigation by OpenAI. According to the company, the issues were linked to an upstream provider, which is responsible for connecting local internet service providers to the broader internet infrastructure.
Throughout the afternoon, OpenAI provided updates, indicating that they were working diligently to resolve the problems. By 6:30 p.m., the situation improved: while ChatGPT and the API were partially restored, Sora had returned to full functionality.
OpenAI expressed regret over the inconvenience caused to users, many of whom rely on their services for research and academic work. In a statement, the company reassured users that recovery efforts were underway and they aimed to restore full service as quickly as possible.
While the outages posed challenges for users globally, it’s encouraging to see OpenAI’s proactive efforts to rectify the situation and communicate openly with its user base. This transparency and commitment to fixing the problem reflects the company’s dedication to maintaining a reliable service.
Overall, as OpenAI continues to navigate these technical challenges, it serves as a reminder of the complexities involved in operating advanced tech services and the importance of maintaining robust infrastructure for user accessibility.