Skip to main content

ChatGPT is back online after being down for more than 3 hours

ChatGPT is back offline after being down for over three hours. OpenAI has restored service for free and paying users, but it’s continuing to monitor the service as it comes back online. That might mean you’ll see more “at capacity” messages than normal

The outage only impacted ChatGPT itself. OpenAI’s API and other research websites stayed live, powering ChatGPT alternatives and services like Microsoft’s Bing Chate. In addition, OpenAI’s other models, such as DALL-E 2, stayed online, as well.

Related Videos
ChatGPT error message that its servers are offline.

The outage was due to “database instabilities,” and started rolling out a couple of hours after the servers were taken offline. OpenAI restored service for ChatGPT Plus subscribers first, waiting for around 30 minutes before restoring the service for free users.

Down Detector showed a peak of user reports around 8:30 a.m. PT, as well as a spike around 11 a.m. During this time, OpenAI was testing fixes that allowed some users to access the AI chatbot. However, after discovering the root of the problem, OpenAI temporarily took ChatGPT offline to work on a fix.

This is the second major outage ChatGPT has seen in the last 90 days. The service experienced another outage on February 21, which brought down the chatbot for four and a half hours. You can keep an eye on OpenAI’s status page to see when the service becomes available again, as well as subscribe for updates.

Server capacity is one of the biggest issues with ChatGPT right now. OpenAI’s viral chatbot has become overwhelmingly popular, often showing “at capacity” messages when new users try to access the service. OpenAI’s status page shows 17 outages for the API over the past 90 days, some of which lasted over five hours. This could become a larger issue with time, especially as services like Snapchat move to integrate ChatGPT.

Now that ChatGPT is back online, make sure to read our roundup of the best ChatGPT tips to get the most out of your chatting.

Editors' Recommendations

Tech leaders call for pause of GPT-4.5, GPT-5 development due to ‘large-scale risks’
Bing Chat shown on a laptop.

Generative AI has been moving at an unbelievable speed in recent months, with the launch of various tools and bots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google Bard, and more. Yet this rapid development is causing serious concern among seasoned veterans in the AI field -- so much so that over 1,000 of them have signed an open letter calling on AI developers to slam on the brakes.

The letter was published on the website of the Future of Life Institute, an organization whose stated mission is “steering transformative technology towards benefitting life and away from extreme large-scale risks.” Among the signatories are several prominent academics and leaders in tech, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Twitter CEO Elon Musk, and politician Andrew Yang.

Read more
GPT-5 could soon change the world in one incredible way
A laptop opened to the ChatGPT website.

GPT-4 may have only just launched, but people are already excited about the next version of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot technology. Now, a new claim has been made that GPT-5 will complete its training this year, and could bring a major AI revolution with it.

The assertion comes from developer Siqi Chen on Twitter, who stated: “I have been told that GPT-5 is scheduled to complete training this December and that OpenAI expects it to achieve AGI.”

Read more
ChatGPT just plugged itself into the internet. What happens next?
OpenAI's website open on a MacBook, showing ChatGPT plugins.

OpenAI just announced that ChatGPT is getting even more powerful with plugins that allow the AI to access portions of the internet. This expansion could simplify tasks like shopping and planning trips without the need to access various websites for research.

This new web integration is in testing with select partners at the moment. The list includes Expedia, FiscalNote, Instacart, Kayak, Klarna, Milo, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Speak, Wolfram, and Zapier.

Read more