Microsoft-Backed ChatGPT Restored After Temporary Outage Impacted Thousands

Microsoft-Backed ChatGPT Restored After Temporary Outage

OpenAI Resolves ChatGPT Outage Affecting Thousands

Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, experienced a brief outage on Friday, affecting thousands of users worldwide. OpenAI promptly restored service, assuring users of improved stability and continued reliability enhancements.

In a statement on its website, OpenAI confirmed, “Issues with ChatGPT have now been resolved.” Most users regained access by 4:34 p.m. PT (0034 GMT on Saturday), although a small group faced minor delays until 5 p.m. (0100 GMT on Saturday).

CEO Sam Altman Acknowledges Reliability Goals

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed the incident on X (formerly Twitter), sharing that ChatGPT was down for approximately 30 minutes. He added a frown emoji, noting, “We are much, much better at reliability than we used to be, but more work in front of us.”

ChatGPT's Rising Popularity and Market Value

According to the outage tracking site Downdetector, more than 19,000 users reported issues with ChatGPT around 7:13 p.m. ET (0013 GMT on Saturday). ChatGPT’s popularity has soared since its launch in November 2022, with over 250 million weekly active users. OpenAI’s valuation has skyrocketed from $14 billion in 2021 to $157 billion, reflecting rapid growth as revenue reached $3.6 billion, surpassing initial forecasts.