ChatGPT was down for some free users - here's what you need to know

Down Detector reports are spiking

As you can see just before 3PM ET, reports for issues on ChatGPT began spiking and I've been getting an error in my attempts to use the AI chatbot on the dekstop and via the iOS app.

OpenAI confirms ChatGPT is having problems for free accounts

OpenAI is at least quick to confirm the issues here: the official status page reads, "Increased errors on ChatGPT conversations for free users," and confirms a partial outage.

As someone with a free ChatGPT account, here's what responses currently look like from the chatbot. ChatGPT isn't saying much, if anything, just returning an error.

OpenAI has identified the problem

As of 3:24 PM ET, OpenAI write,s "We have identified the issue and are working to mitigate it." The ChatGPT maker isn't yet providing details on what is causing the issue, but it has identified the issue and is working on a resolution.

As we noted above, this outage is mostly affecting free ChatGPT users, so if you have a paid account or one through enterprise or education, you're likely not seeing issues.

Down Detector reports are starting to drop

While reports on Down Detector spiked to over 2,600, they have started to dip slightly, but remain elevated. As of 3:40 PM ET – the last update on the service – reports were over 1,100, suggesting that OpenAI is making good progress in mitigating the issue.

As is typically the case with outages – including Starbucks and Xbox Network just yesterday – impacted folks are taking to social platforms, with some even asking OpenAI's Sam Altman what's going on?

OpenAI's deployed a fix for the issue

Now, a bit over an hour after ChatGPT began having issues, OpenAI says it has deployed a fix as of 4:07 PM ET. Here's the update:

We have deployed a fix to restore functionality and are monitoring to confirm resolution.

It's certainly promising and does line up with reported issues dropping on Down Detector. I've just given ChatGPT a go again on the desktop and got a response, albeit after a longer processing time, but it's still showing an error on mobile.

Hopefully, we'll all be back to normal shortl,y and free users will be able to use ChatGPT again.

In line with OpenAI rolling out a fix for a bug causing errors in ChatGPT responses, Down Detector reports are now under 1,00, currently showing 463 reports as of 4:01 PM ET.

ChatGPT is back up on my free account on desktop and mobile, with only mobile taking a bit longer to deliver a response. It seems like OpenAI is well on the way to full recovery, more than an hour after issues began with ChatGPT.

Reported issues with ChatGPT have dropped to 94 on Down Detector with the last update, and OpenAI is still monitoring the fix that's been deployed. So I decided to ask ChatGPT itself if its outage is over.

A pretty happy response came back quickly, "Hey! 👋 Yep — everything’s back up and running smoothly now" before asking how my day is. It seems things are closer to normal with ChatGPT now, and it might be that the outage was only a little over an hour long, with a quick fix deployed by OpenAI.

Of course, we're still monitoring this and waiting for a full all-clear from OpenAI's status page.

ChatGPT is back to normal

And ChatGPT says the issues that impacted ChatGPT functionality for free users have been fully resolved. It's back up for me and a few of my colleagues, and Down Detector reports are way down in the normal range.

Fingers crossed, ChatGPT is back up for you as well.