ChatGPT is Back Online After a Global Outage That Affected Thousands of Users.

ChatGPT is operational again following an outage that temporarily took the world’s most prominent AI tool offline.

Downdetector reported over 10,000 users in the UK experienced issues with ChatGPT on Thursday, as OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot went offline.

Users encountered a “bad gateway error” message when attempting to access the service. OpenAI’s status page confirmed that a fix was implemented at 15:09 GMT, and the company is now monitoring the situation. The outage, which began around 11:00 GMT, remains unexplained, as OpenAI has not commented publicly on its cause.

Many users took to social media to share their frustrations and jokes about the disruption. One user humorously remarked, “ChatGPT is down again? During the workday? So you’re telling me I have to… THINK?!”

During the outage, OpenAI’s status page noted “elevated error rates” and confirmed the issue was under investigation.

Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT has driven significant global interest in generative AI, amassing over 300 million weekly users by December 2024, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. While the chatbot offers free access, OpenAI also provides premium subscriptions costing up to $200 per month.

The incident follows a broader commitment by tech firms, including OpenAI, to invest $500 billion (£405 billion) into AI infrastructure in the U.S.