Users of the popular artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT were left frustrated on Tuesday evening as a major global outage brought the service to a standstill. The disruption, which began on 2 December 2025, saw widespread reports of technical failures across the platform.
OpenAI Acknowledges Widespread Issues
OpenAI, the company behind the AI chatbot, officially confirmed it was "experiencing issues" and actively "working on implementing a mitigation." The statement came in response to a flood of user complaints indicating the problem was not isolated but affecting a significant portion of its user base globally.
Reports from those attempting to use ChatGPT detailed a range of problems. Many encountered severe lag issues, making conversations with the AI painfully slow or unresponsive. Others faced timeout errors, where requests simply failed to complete. A significant number of users also reported the application or interface crashing entirely, preventing access altogether.
Impact on Users and Services
The outage underscores the growing reliance on generative AI tools for both personal and professional tasks. From students seeking homework help to developers using the API for coding assistance, the sudden unavailability of ChatGPT caused immediate disruption.
The timing of the incident, during evening hours in many regions, suggests it may have impacted a peak period of user activity. While the exact cause of the outage has not been disclosed by OpenAI, the company's confirmation that it was working on a solution indicated the severity was significant enough to require an official response and dedicated engineering resources.
Looking Ahead for AI Reliability
This incident serves as a stark reminder of the challenges associated with maintaining always-on, global digital services, especially those as complex and resource-intensive as large language models. As AI becomes further embedded in daily workflows, the expectation for robust uptime and swift incident response will only intensify.
For now, users are advised to monitor OpenAI's official status channels for further updates on the restoration of full service. The event on 2 December 2025 marks one of the most notable and widespread service interruptions for the platform in recent memory, highlighting the infrastructure pressures facing the rapidly scaling AI industry.
