Thousands of users of ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI, were left stranded yesterday after the platform experienced a widespread service outage that disrupted conversations and access across multiple regions.
The disruption triggered a wave of complaints from users who reported encountering repeated error messages such as “Something went wrong” and difficulties loading past or new chats. The incident also led to a surge in online searches from frustrated users trying to understand why the service was unavailable.
OpenAI acknowledged the issue, informing users that it was facing intermittent service problems. The company said it had detected elevated error rates affecting ChatGPT and related services and that its technical teams were working to restore stability.
Data from outage-tracking platforms showed a sharp spike in failure reports at the peak of the disruption, suggesting the problem was both widespread and sudden. Most complaints were tied directly to ChatGPT, while a smaller number involved the mobile application and website access.
Although the company did not release a detailed technical explanation, such outages are often linked to infrastructure strain, system updates, or unexpected surges in user demand. Cloud-based AI platforms like ChatGPT rely on vast server networks, and even brief performance issues can ripple quickly across millions of active users.
Professionals, students, developers and businesses that depend on the AI tool for writing, research, coding and customer support reported delays and workflow interruptions during the downtime. Some users said refreshing browsers or restarting apps did not immediately resolve the issue.
OpenAI later indicated that mitigation measures had been deployed and that services were gradually returning to normal, though monitoring continued to ensure full stability.
The incident highlights the growing global reliance on artificial intelligence tools and the operational pressure on tech firms to maintain near-constant uptime as usage expands rapidly across industries.
