NurPhoto / Contributor/NurPhoto via Getty
Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- ChatGPT is experiencing a major outage.
- OpenAI has confirmed “elevated errors.”
- Users report the service is down on X.
If you’re staring at an error message from ChatGPT right now, you’re not alone. The popular AI chatbot is experiencing a significant outage, with users flooding social media to confirm it’s not working.
Problems started Thursday morning
The outage appears to have started around 11 a.m. ET.
OpenAI’s official status page posted an incident, stating, “We’re currently experiencing issues” and “Increased errors on ChatGPT conversations.” The company confirmed users are experiencing “elevated errors” and is “working on implementing a mitigation.”
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
Also: Is ChatGPT Plus still worth $20 when the free version offers so much – including GPT-5?
Downdetector, which is owned by ZDNET’s parent company Ziff Davis, tracks outages for most sites and services, and it’s lit up like a Christmas tree right now with a massive, vertical spike in user-submitted problems.
Around 30 minutes ago, hundreds of reports came in, with 94% specifically about ChatGPT rather than other services like Sora.
Not just ChatGPT
Some users are noting that other services might also be affected.
Also: How ChatGPT actually works (and why it’s been so game-changing)
“Chatgpt and grok are both down, what is going on? AWS at it again?” one developer posted on X. Another user joked, “ChatGPT is down and I’m going to have to be sent home from work like in the olden days when it snowed.”
What’s happening?
OpenAI hasn’t given a root cause, but user speculation is already pointing to a broader cloud outage (like the AWS incident earlier this week). It’s also possible this is related to a new feature rollout, with Atlas launching this week.
For now, it looks like it’s time to grab a coffee and hit refresh.
Also: Is OpenAI’s Atlas browser the Chrome killer we’ve been waiting for? Try it for yourself
I’ve contacted OpenAI for a comment and will update this story as soon as I know more.
Want more stories about AI? Check out AI Leaderboard, our weekly newsletter.
