ChatGPT suffers major global outage, disrupting AI services

OpenAI's popular ChatGPT experienced a significant worldwide service disruption on Thursday, January 23, leaving thousands of users unable to access the AI chatbot through web and mobile platforms.

Downdetector, a service tracking online outages, logged over 1,000 user reports indicating widespread system failures. Approximately 88% of users reported complete service unavailability, with the remaining 12% experiencing intermittent website and API issues.

The outage began around 5 om Indian Standard Time, with OpenAI's status page confirming "degraded performance" for both ChatGPT and its API. The company's official communication stated, "We are currently experiencing elevated error rates in the API. We are investigating."

As of this report, OpenAI has not disclosed the root cause of the technical disruption. The investigation remains ongoing, and no estimated resolution time has been provided.

This service interruption highlights the growing dependence on AI technologies and the potential impact of unexpected technical challenges in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Users are advised to monitor OpenAI's official status page for real-time updates on service restoration.