
Wed Feb 04 02:10:00 UTC 2026: ### ChatGPT Briefly Down for Thousands of U.S. Users Before Restoration
The Story:
ChatGPT experienced a temporary outage affecting thousands of users in the United States on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, according to Downdetector. The outage peaked with over 13,000 reported issues, before subsiding to 309 reports by 4:33 p.m. ET. OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, stated that the issue had been identified, mitigated, and that they were monitoring the recovery. User-submitted reports to Downdetector were used to track the outage.
Key Points:
- ChatGPT experienced an outage on February 3, 2026, affecting U.S. users.
- Downdetector.com reported over 13,000 user-submitted complaints at the peak of the outage.
- OpenAI confirmed the issue was identified and resolved.
- Reported issues decreased significantly to 309 by 4:33 p.m. ET.
- The actual number of impacted users may vary from Downdetector’s figures.
Key Takeaways:
- Even advanced AI systems like ChatGPT are susceptible to outages.
- User-generated reporting platforms like Downdetector play a crucial role in identifying and tracking service disruptions.
- OpenAI responded relatively quickly to the outage, mitigating the problem and restoring service.
- The frequency and duration of such outages are key metrics for evaluating the reliability of AI services.