"ChatGPT Experiences Widespread Issues as Thousands Report Problems Worldwide"

 

Thousands of people have reported being unable to use ChatGPT, the popular AI tool developed by OpenAI.

According to Downdetector, which monitors website outages, over 10,000 users in the UK reported issues with the AI chatbot on Thursday.

Those attempting to access the service were greeted with a message saying, "the web server reported a bad gateway error."

OpenAI has yet to comment publicly on the outage, and the BBC has reached out to the company for a response.

Meanwhile, many users have taken to social media to share their frustration and highlight the disruption.

The outage started around 11:00 GMT on Thursday, and users are still reporting issues.

ChatGPT's status page mentioned that the app was "experiencing elevated error rates" and that OpenAI was "currently investigating" the problem.

While many people use the free version of the chatbot, OpenAI also offers paid subscription plans that can cost up to $200 per month.

In December, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that ChatGPT is used by more than 300 million people every week worldwide.

The outage follows a major pledge from tech companies, including OpenAI, to invest $500 billion (£405 billion) in AI infrastructure in the United States.