• Source:JND
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The most popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, experienced severe technical issues last week, making users worldwide unable to access the service for hours. The outage made the chatbot entirely unresponsive to requests, and there was an influx of complaints online.

Reports Confirmed on DownDetector

The outage was initially brought to attention by DownDetector, a major site that monitors online service outages. From 11 am to 12:54 pm, the website logged 547 user reports of ChatGPT not functioning correctly. The magnitude of the reports within that time frame showed that the issue wasn't small—it seemed to be an extensive technical issue affecting massive numbers of individuals.

chatgptdown

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Reactions Overflow Social Media

The moment the disruption was felt, upset users turned to social media to air their grievances. On X (formerly Twitter), the #ChatGPTDown hashtag trended in no time. While most expressed annoyance at the abrupt outage of the service, some opted for humor in dealing with it, making memes and jokes of the outage.

No Response Yet from OpenAI

As of writing, OpenAI—ChatGPT's parent company—has not issued an official statement explaining the outage. No information has been made available on whether the problem was caused by scheduled maintenance, server congestion, or some other technical flaw.

Not an Isolated Incident

This outage is not new. ChatGPT has faced such interruptions before, particularly when traffic is high or after a platform update. Such incidents are always a reminder that even the best AI tools are not yet immune from technical hiccups.

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Dependence on AI Tools Highlighted

The outage also highlights to what extent individuals have grown to depend upon AI chatbots in their daily lives. Whether for professional or personal use, millions rely on ChatGPT for instant answers and help. When such systems suddenly fail, the loss is felt at once, bringing into question how reliant society has become on virtual spaces that are not averse to failure.