AGS NEWS – Popular AI chatbot ChatGPT experienced a partial outage on Tuesday, leading to degraded performance across its services, according to OpenAI and Downdetector, a platform that monitors web service disruptions.

OpenAI said it began investigating the issue around 2:36 a.m. ET, with error reports peaking around 5:30 a.m., based on Downdetector data. The outage affected not only ChatGPT but also OpenAI’s Sora video generator and its developer API tools.

At the height of the disruption, Downdetector logged nearly 2,000 user complaints, with many reporting slow response times or being unable to access services.

ALSO READ: Snapchat makes chatbot powered by ChatGPT available to all users

The company posted on X (formerly Twitter) Tuesday morning, saying it was “observing elevated error rates and latency across ChatGPT” and had “identified the root cause” of the issue. While OpenAI reported signs of gradual recovery across some tools, it noted that full restoration could take several more hours.

By late Tuesday morning, CNN reported that ChatGPT appeared to be functioning normally again. However, by afternoon, both OpenAI’s status page and Downdetector continued to reflect intermittent problems.

The incident comes as ChatGPT continues to expand its presence in daily life. A recent Glassdoor report showed that usage of the chatbot in workplaces has doubled over the past year. Meanwhile, Pew Research revealed that 26% of U.S. teens now use ChatGPT for schoolwork—double the rate reported in 2023.

On social media, some users responded to the outage with humor. One X user wrote, “ChatGPT is down… Which means I actually have to type out my own emails at work. Send prayers.”

OpenAI has not released a full explanation but directed users to its status page for ongoing updates.