OpenAI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT, left thousands of users in the dark on Monday evening following a significant global outage. According to the monitoring site DownDetector, the disruption reached its peak at approximately 8 p.m., affecting digital workflows across the globe.

Impact on Indian users

The outage hit home for many in India, where roughly 900 users reported problems. Data shows that 80% of Indian users struggled to access the service through their web browsers. The disruption was felt even more sharply in the United States, with nearly 1,900 reports, while over 200 users in Canada also faced connectivity hurdles.

OpenAI’s race to fix the glitch

In an official update, OpenAI confirmed it was investigating issues preventing users from loading both ChatGPT and Codex. The company noted that ChatGPT Business users might experience delays of up to an hour when upgrading their accounts or adding new seats. While engineers have applied a "mitigation" and are currently monitoring the recovery process, the incident forced many to realise just how much they rely on the tool.

Panic and punchlines on social media

As the service flickered out, "Is ChatGPT down?" quickly became a trending search on Google. On social media platform X, the reaction was a mix of genuine stress and sharp wit. While some users admitted to "panicking," others mocked their own heavy dependency on the AI, with one person jokingly asking how they were expected to think for themselves without it.

A recurring problem?

This is not the first time the AI giant has faced technical hiccups; a similar brief outage occurred in February, which saw users struggling with high error rates and failing to start new conversations.

Alternative options for the digital-savvy For those who cannot afford a pause in productivity, several other AI companions are available. The alternatives are:

  • Google Gemini: Known for factual accuracy.
  • Claude AI: Focused on creative and safe text generation.
  • Microsoft Copilot: Built directly into Microsoft’s productivity tools.
  • Jasper AI & Rytr: Specifically tailored for content creators and marketers.
  • Perplexity AI: A specialist in delivering precise, direct answers.