On December 26, 2023, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and its text-to-image platform Sora suffered a significant outage that affected users across the US and other regions. The disruption began around 1:30 pm ET (12:00 am IST, December 27), and users experienced issues accessing ChatGPT and its API services for several hours. By 6:15 pm ET (4:45 am IST), OpenAI confirmed that its services had been restored to full functionality. However, the outage left many users unable to access the platforms for nearly five hours.
What Happened During the OpenAI Outage?
According to Down Detector, an online service that tracks service disruptions, around 50,000 users reported issues with ChatGPT starting at approximately 1:30 pm ET on December 26. The reports mentioned that users were unable to interact with ChatGPT or use its associated services, including the API. The outage was later confirmed to be caused by high error rates affecting ChatGPT, Sora, and the API.
Shortly after the issue arose, OpenAI posted an official update on its status page, stating that the problem was linked to a third-party provider. While OpenAI did not specify the exact cause of the disruption, the issue seemed to be rooted in an “upstream provider” failure.
Around the same time, Microsoft also reported a power issue at one of its data centers in South Central U.S., which affected multiple services including Microsoft 365, Azure, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Microsoft’s outage lasted until around 5:00 pm ET, and it’s still unclear whether the two incidents were related.
How OpenAI Resolved the Outage
By 2:00 pm ET, OpenAI had acknowledged the problem and reassured users that the team was actively working to resolve it. The issue persisted for several hours, frustrating users who were unable to use ChatGPT or Sora. However, OpenAI kept the community informed with regular updates.
By 6:04 pm ET, OpenAI reported that ChatGPT was “mostly recovered,” allowing users to access and interact with the chatbot once again. As the service gradually came back online, Down Detector saw the number of outage reports drop drastically, indicating that the issue had been resolved for most users.
Around 6:15 pm ET, Sora—OpenAI’s text-to-image platform—was fully restored as well. Users were then able to access both platforms without issues, marking the end of the service disruption.
The Impact of the Outage
The outage was a reminder of the vulnerabilities that even the most sophisticated AI systems can face, especially when they rely on third-party providers. During the five-hour downtime, users were unable to access ChatGPT’s various features, including conversational AI, API calls, and other text-to-image services offered by Sora.
For businesses and developers relying on OpenAI’s API, the disruption created significant challenges, especially since many use these services for mission-critical tasks. Developers, in particular, were affected by the inability to interact with AI models for building and integrating applications.
What Caused the OpenAI and Microsoft Outages?
Both OpenAI and Microsoft confirmed that their outages were related to separate issues with underlying infrastructure. OpenAI traced the cause of the ChatGPT and Sora disruptions to an upstream provider, which refers to third-party services that support OpenAI’s systems. While OpenAI didn’t identify the provider, the timing of Microsoft’s power incident and its impact on services in the same region suggests there could have been some overlap or shared infrastructure affected.
Microsoft acknowledged that a power issue at one of its data centers, located in South Central U.S., disrupted several services, including Azure, Microsoft 365, and Xbox. The issue was resolved by 5:00 pm ET, but it’s unclear whether this had any direct impact on OpenAI’s systems.
What’s Next for OpenAI and Sora Users?
After the restoration of services, OpenAI confirmed it would conduct a root-cause analysis of the outage. This investigation will help identify the exact cause of the disruption and ensure better stability in the future. OpenAI has yet to provide a specific timeline for any future preventative measures.
For now, users can once again access ChatGPT and Sora without disruption. However, OpenAI’s commitment to investigating the issue indicates that they’re taking steps to ensure that a similar outage doesn’t happen again.
Key Takeaways
- Outage Duration: The outage lasted for approximately five hours, with services being restored by 6:15 pm ET.
- Cause of the Outage: OpenAI attributed the issue to a failure from an upstream provider, although the provider was not identified. Microsoft’s power issue in a data center could have been related.
- Impact on Users: The outage affected users globally, disrupting access to ChatGPT and Sora, as well as the OpenAI API.
- Resolution: Services have now been restored, and Down Detector reports show a significant reduction in outage reports.
Conclusion
OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Sora services are now fully operational after suffering a major outage on December 26, 2023. The disruption was caused by an issue with an upstream provider, and though the issue was resolved by OpenAI’s team, the downtime had a significant impact on users across the globe. As OpenAI conducts a full root-cause analysis, users can now resume using the AI tools without further issues.
For businesses, developers, and users who rely on OpenAI’s services, it’s important to stay informed about the causes and future preventative measures regarding such outages.
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