ChatGPT is back offline after being down for over three hours. OpenAI has restored service to free and paying users, but it continues to monitor the service as it comes back online. That may mean you see more “at capacity” messages than normal
The outage only affects ChatGPT itself. OpenAI’s API and other research websites remain alive, powering ChatGPT alternatives and services such as Microsoft’s Bing Chate. In addition, other OpenAI models, such as DALL-E 2, also remain online.
The outage was attributed to “database instabilities,” and began rolling out hours after the servers were taken offline. OpenAI first restored service for ChatGPT Plus subscribers, waiting about 30 minutes before restoring service for free users.
Down Detector shows peak user reports around 8:30 a.m. PT, as well as a spike around 11 a.m. During this time, OpenAI is testing fixes that allow some users to – access to AI chatbot. However, after identifying the root of the problem, OpenAI has temporarily taken ChatGPT offline to work on a fix.
This is the second major outage ChatGPT has seen in the last 90 days. The service again experienced an outage on February 21, bringing the chatbot down for four and a half hours. You can monitor the OpenAI status page to see when the service will be available again, as well as subscribe for updates.
Server capacity is one of ChatGPT’s biggest issues right now. OpenAI’s viral chatbot has become extremely popular, often displaying “at capacity” messages when new users try to access the service. OpenAI’s status page shows 17 outages for the API in the past 90 days, some of which lasted more than five hours. This could become a bigger issue in time, especially if services like Snapchat move to integrate ChatGPT.
Now that ChatGPT is back online, be sure to read our roundup of the best ChatGPT tips to get the most out of your chat.
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