OpenAI has reported a significant outage affecting ChatGPT, Sora, and its developer API, as noted on the company’s status page. As of 4:55 PM PT on Wednesday, the company indicated that it had pinpointed a path to resolution and was actively working on a fix.
The specific reason for the outage has not yet been determined. However, by around 7 PM PT, OpenAI shared an update stating that services for ChatGPT, Sora, and the API were gradually being restored. The investigation into the outage began around 3:17 PM PT.
When attempting to access ChatGPT on Wednesday, users encountered a message stating, “ChatGPT is currently unavailable. We have identified the issue and are working to roll out a fix.”
This service interruption coincided with OpenAI’s launch of its iOS 18.2 integration with Apple, potentially leading to a surge in server traffic. Some users noted on social media that the service was not functioning in Apple Intelligence due to this downtime.
Earlier in the week, OpenAI launched Sora publicly. CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the unexpected high level of interest, which necessitated limiting user sign-ups. As a result, many users faced difficulties generating videos on the launch day, due to server capacity issues.
The outage also occurred on the same day as a global service disruption affecting Meta’s products, though any connection between the two outages remains unclear.
This incident unfolded during the fifth day of OpenAI’s “12 Days of Shipmas” event, wherein the company has introduced new products daily in anticipation of the holiday season. Notable announcements during this period include the full release of its o1 reasoning model, a reinforcement fine-tuning research initiative, the launch of Sora, various updates to Canvas, and the integration with Apple Intelligence.
During this challenging time, OpenAI has assured users that they are actively working to rectify the situation and provide updates as they progress.
This outage highlights the increasing demand for AI services, underlining the importance of robust infrastructure as companies strive to meet user expectations and innovate continuously. While the interruption is unfortunate, the swift response from OpenAI suggests that they are committed to resolving the issues and restoring service efficiently.