Is ChatGPT Down? Latest Outage Details

Thousands of users worldwide reported widespread ChatGPT outages this week, with OpenAI confirming ongoing service disruptions. The intermittent issues, spanning multiple days, have frustrated professionals and casual users alike who rely on the AI chatbot for work, education, and daily tasks.

What Happened During the Outage?

Starting Monday (December 1), users began experiencing intermittent access failures. By Tuesday, the problem escalated into a major global outage. According to Downdetector—a service tracking real-time service disruptions—over 12,580 users in the US alone reported issues, with 93% specifically citing ChatGPT problems. Other OpenAI services appeared unaffected.

The most common error message displayed was: "Unusual activity has been detected from your device. Try again later." Many users were unexpectedly logged out of their accounts and unable to access conversation history.

Visual representation of digital service disruption affecting global users - Image from https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th/id/OIP.LMlY7pJXCGwfsNtC4BPHAgAAAA?pid=Api

"The disruption follows OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's recent 'code red' declaration aimed at improving platform stability."

OpenAI's Response and Investigation

OpenAI quickly acknowledged the issues through its official status page, confirming that engineers were actively investigating the root cause. The disruption follows OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's recent "code red" declaration aimed at improving platform stability.

OpenAI's CEO declaring platform stability initiatives following recent outages - Image from https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/openai-ceo-sam-altman-declares-code-red-improve-128039634

"We're aware that users are experiencing issues with ChatGPT and are working to resolve it," the company stated, though no specific timeline for full restoration was provided. This marks the second high-profile outage in recent weeks, raising concerns about the reliability of AI services amidst growing corporate adoption.

User Impact and Workarounds

The outage disrupted workflows across industries: students missed assignment deadlines, developers encountered project delays, and businesses relying on ChatGPT for customer support faced operational challenges. While some users switched to alternative AI tools like Claude or Gemini, others reported difficulty accessing critical data stored within their chat histories.

For those affected, temporary solutions include:

Clearing browser cache and cookies
Switching between web and mobile app versions
Checking OpenAI's status page for updates
Using backup conversation logs

What's Next for OpenAI?

As OpenAI works to resolve the current issues, this incident highlights the challenges of scaling AI infrastructure. The "code red" initiative—launched to enhance system reliability—gains new urgency following this widespread disruption. Industry analysts predict increased investment in redundancy protocols and failover systems to prevent future outages.

"We appreciate users' patience as we implement fixes," OpenAI added, suggesting potential updates to authentication protocols may be coming. The company has not yet disclosed whether user data was compromised during the authentication failures.

For real-time updates, users can monitor OpenAI's status page or follow official announcements on their social channels.