Popular artificial intelligence software ChatGPT has been reported to have stopped working for users. The OpenAI platform, which has surged in popularity around the globe over the last two years, appears to be experiencing a major outage, with thousands reporting issues with its main functions. The problems, first reported at around 10am on Tuesday morning, initially impacted users in the United States and India.
As of 3.40pm, users around the globe have continued to report issues with both the desktop website and the app, however, with requests for AI content met with messages including: “Hmm… something seems to have gone wrong.” OpenAI’s official status page confirmed that the software was experiencing disruption and said the issue was actively being investigated.
Outage tracker DownDetector reported over 1,000 reports of problems with the software at 10.05am, with tens of thousands more people lodging complaints shortly afterwards.
While the software was created back in November 2022, it has only recently become deeply integrated in people’s daily lives – with an outpouring of frustration over the outage on social media highlighting the extent of newfound reliance on its services.
“I need my ChatGPT back AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!,” one X user wrote. “I don’t know how to write without ChaptGPT now!”
“ChatGPT is down… which means I actually have to type out my own emails at work. Send prayers,” another added.
The AI assistant, which engages in human-like conversation and content generation based on a huge database of texts and media from the internet, last recorded an outage on January 25, 2025 – though the issue was solved in just a few hours.
Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer at NordVPN, warned that alongside disrupting people’s day-to-day activities and workloads, the disruption could have more severe consequences for their personal security.
“This isn’t the first time that ChatGPT has experienced an outage and it won’t be the last. However, we know that past incidents have seen some users’ conversation history and potentially payment information exposed due to bugs,” he said.
“Even temporary disruptions can sometimes reveal sensitive data. The outage happened right in the middle of the working day, as millions look to the chatbot to help them with their daily office tasks. However, the timing should be a stark reminder that even the most sophisticated technology can be flawed. Our own research reveals that a staggering 95% of people in the UK know nothing about privacy issues when using AI for work.”
“Cybercriminals often look for periods of disruption and uncertainty. An outage creates a chaotic environment where IT and security teams are scrambling to understand the root cause,” the cybersecurity expert added.
“This distraction away from vital security measures can be leveraged by attackers to launch more successful exploits, as their activities might go unnoticed.
“If you are worried about future outages involving ChatGPT and how safe your data is, make sure you use a unique and robust password to secure your account. Additionally, you should be reviewing how much you are actually sharing with the chatbot so that you are not revealing information that could compromise your identity or your work.”