According to Downdetector, a platform that tracks real-time service disruptions, India alone logged nearly 800 complaints. The US saw close to 1,100, while the UK reported over 1,450 issues.
What went wrong?
The majority of users—about 93%—reported that ChatGPT simply stopped responding. Others faced login loops, blank chat windows, or were abruptly logged out mid-conversation. Some received error messages like:
“Hmm…something seems to have gone wrong” and “A network error occurred. Please check your connection and try again.”
In India, 88% of complaints were about the chatbot not responding. Another 8% flagged issues with the mobile app, and 3% pointed to problems with the API.
OpenAI responds, but no fix yet
OpenAI acknowledged the disruption on its official system status page. The company stated, “Some users are experiencing elevated error rates and latency across the listed services. We are continuing to investigate this issue.”
The outage also affected Sora, OpenAI’s AI-powered video creation tool, and its GPT API services. In a follow-up update, OpenAI added, “We are continuing to investigate the issue for the listed services,” noting that the disruption was causing “degraded performance.”
Despite the acknowledgement, OpenAI has not yet provided a timeline for when services will be fully restored.
Social Media reacts: Frustration and Memes
As the outage spread, users took to social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) to vent. Screenshots of error messages, half-loaded chats, and login failures flooded timelines. Some users shared memes mocking the situation, while others expressed concern over lost work and interrupted tasks.
As ChatGPT went silent, the internet got loud.
Within minutes of the outage, social media platforms—especially X (formerly Twitter)—lit up with a mix of confusion, humour, and genuine frustration. Hashtags like #ChatGPTDown and #OpenAI began trending as users scrambled to confirm whether the issue was widespread or just their own connection acting up.
One user summed up the collective sentiment with a post that read, “My work buddy is down again.”
Another joked, “How to write an email without ChatGPT?”, accompanied by a meme of a panicked office worker.
The humour didn’t stop there. A popular meme showed a group of friends awkwardly sitting in silence, captioned, “Me and my friends when ChatGPT is down and we’ve forgotten how to talk to each other anymore.”
Others shared screenshots of blank chat windows, frozen loading bars, and error messages. Some were in the middle of important tasks—writing reports, coding, or even composing emails—when the chatbot abruptly stopped responding. For many, it wasn’t just an inconvenience; it was a disruption to their workflow.
One viral post read, “ChatGPT is down. How will I answer if someone asks me my name?”
Another user posted a clip from the web series Panchayat, showing characters in a state of confusion, with the caption, “Me when ChatGPT is down.”
The outage also sparked a wave of self-deprecating humour. A widely shared tweet read, “It’s time to use my brain. Scary.”
The incident highlighted just how deeply integrated AI tools like ChatGPT have become in daily routines—from writing emails to coding, and even planning meals.
Who was affected?
The outage did not discriminate. Both free-tier users and ChatGPT Plus subscribers were impacted. The disruption was felt across devices and platforms, with most issues reported on the web version. Less than 10% of complaints were related to the mobile app.
Even members of the Times of India Tech team experienced mixed results. Some were able to access the chatbot, while others received an “error in message stream” notification.
What you can do
Until the issue is resolved, users are advised not to refresh their sessions repeatedly or re-enter login credentials. Doing so may trigger additional security checks and won’t speed up recovery.
Downdetector’s live outage map continues to show high concentrations of reports from North America, Europe, and India.
While OpenAI has not confirmed the root cause, the scale and suddenness of the outage suggest a possible server-side overload or technical fault. Historically, similar outages have been resolved within a few hours. However, the lack of transparency this time has left users in the dark.
The incident serves as a reminder of the growing dependence on AI tools—and the vulnerabilities that come with it.
