ChatGPT down for thousands as OpenAI experiences major global outage

ChatGPT down for thousands as OpenAI experiences major global outage Barney Davis Published December 2, 2025 8:13pm Updated December 2, 2025 8:19pm Share this article via whatsappShare this article via xCopy the link to this article.Link is copiedShare this article via facebook Comment now Comments ChatGPT is down for thousands (Picture: Getty Images)

OpenAI has confirmed it is working on mitigating issues that shut down its artificial intelligence platform globally.

ChatGPT users have been reporting problems with DownDetector suggesting a spike in issues for users.

OpenAI said ChatGPT is experiencing an increasing in error rates on Tuesday night.

‘We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services’, OpenAI said.

‘We are working on implementing a mitigation.’

In a new status update, the San Francisco tech giants confirmed users are experiencing ‘degraded performance’ on ChatGPT.

They added: ‘We are investigating the issue for the listed services.’

When asked by the Metro if it had a system outage today, ChatGPT responded: ‘I don’t have real-time awareness of system outages, but I can tell you this:

‘If I’m responding slowly, giving errors, or acting unusually, it can feel like an outage from your side — but I can’t directly detect or confirm events happening outside this conversation.

‘If something seemed off earlier, you’re welcome to tell me what you noticed, and I can help clarify whether it fits a typical system hiccup or something else.’

ChatGPT now has more than 800 million weekly users. (Picture: Getty)

It came as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman set off a ‘code red’ alert to employees to improve its flagship product, ChatGPT, and delay other product developments, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper reported that Mr Altman sent an internal memo to staff on Monday saying more work was needed to enhance the artificial intelligence chatbot’s speed, reliability and personalisation features.

This week marks three years since OpenAI first released ChatGPT, helping to spark global fascination and a commercial boom in generative AI technology.

But the company faces increased competition with rivals, including Google, which last month unleashed Gemini 3, the latest version of its own AI assistant.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Tech news outlet The Information also reported on the memo.

Mr Altman said this autumn that ChatGPT now has more than 800 million weekly users.

But the company, valued at 500 billion dollars, does not make a profit and has committed more than one trillion dollars in financial obligations to the cloud computing providers and chipmakers it relies on to power its AI systems.

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The risk that OpenAI will not make enough money to fulfil the expectations of backers like Oracle and Nvidia has amplified investor concerns about an AI bubble.

Nick Turley, an OpenAI vice president and its head of ChatGPT, posted on social media on Monday that online search is one of the product’s biggest areas of opportunity as the company focuses on making ChatGPT more capable and ‘even more intuitive and personal’.

OpenAI makes revenue from premium subscriptions to ChatGPT but most users get the free version.

Mr Altman’s memo said the company was delaying work on advertising, AI agents for health and shopping, and a personal assistant called Pulse, according to the Journal.

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