When ChatGPT will not open, it can be difficult to immediately determine whether the problem lies with your device or internet connection, or with the service.
On September 3, outage reports continued during the same time period not only for ChatGPT but also for Claude and Grok.
However, the simultaneous outages at the time were not immediately confirmed to have the same cause.
3-Line Summary
1. A ChatGPT outage was reported on September 3
2. About 85% of the 1만2천 reports were about ChatGPT
3. The cause cannot be conclusively determined from simultaneous outages alone
More Than 1만2천 Reports, with ChatGPT Accounting for About 85%
The Asbury Park Press reported that more than 1만2천 reports from users about problems with OpenAI services had been received just before 11 a.m. on Thursday, September 3. The figures were based on Downdetector, which collects and displays outage reports. This figure can be read as a signal that the number of people experiencing difficulty accessing or using the service increased over a short period.
However, the number of reports itself does not represent the status of all users. Because it is a tally of responses from users who submitted reports, it does not show which features were blocked for whom or for how long. The report at the time indicated only that ChatGPT was at the center of user reports; it did not say that every user experienced the same error.
The same report said that about 85% of the problem reports were related to ChatGPT. This means that, rather than reports being distributed across OpenAI’s various services, users at the time were reporting problems using ChatGPT in particular. The increase in searches asking, “Is ChatGPT down?” can also be inferred from this proportion.
The problem was reportedly first noticed suddenly around 10:30 a.m. The article at that time stated that no resolution time had been provided. Because the information was from when the outage had just begun to be reported, it had not yet been confirmed when the service would be available for normal use.
Therefore, the important fact for users who saw an error on their screens at the time was that the situation could not immediately be concluded to be an “individual account problem.” The large number of reports and the proportion related to ChatGPT provide grounds for observing a service-level problem. Conversely, those numbers alone cannot establish the specific error screen, the access status in every region, or the time recovery was completed.
Outage Indicators Appeared Simultaneously on ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok
9to5Google reported that outages were also confirmed that day on Claude (Anthropic’s artificial intelligence service) and Grok (X’s artificial intelligence service), along with ChatGPT. Based on the surge in outage reports and the status indicators for each service, it said that all 3 services were experiencing problems with access at the same time.
In a follow-up update, the report said that, as of 8:49 a.m. Pacific Time, the services appeared to be coming back online and that user reports were also declining. This explains that the September 3 outage was not characterized solely by a continuing worsening trend. However, a decline in reports is information indicating signs of recovery, not confirmation that no problems remained for any users.
OpenAI said that it had applied a fix and that the service was recovering. The key point here is that “a fix was applied” and “recovering” were presented together. The announcement that action had been taken is confirmed, but based on the reporting provided, it cannot be rephrased as a declaration that the service had been fully restored at that point.
Claude’s side announced that most models except Opus 4.8 and Opus 5 had been restored. Grok was still showing an outage status. Meanwhile, Gemini (Google’s artificial intelligence service) also saw an increase in reports around a similar time, but 9to5Google said that it had not reported an official outage. This shows that user reports from the same time period and official status statements from service operators can be different kinds of information.
References to Azure Were Only a Possibility
9to5Google mentioned the possibility that the underlying problem could have been related to Microsoft Azure (Microsoft Azure · cloud service), saying that outage reports had also increased for Microsoft Azure. The article also explained that ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok use Azure’s cloud services.
However, this was an estimate presented by the report. The article stated that providers other than Azure could also be involved with those services, so the simultaneous outages of the 3 services do not provide grounds to conclude that Azure was the cause. The fact that Grok displayed an outage status and the claim that its connection to Azure had been confirmed are not information of equal weight.
What is clear in this case is that, on September 3, ChatGPT was the subject of outage reports that attracted reports from many users. OpenAI said that the service was recovering after a fix was applied, and the statuses of the other services were not the same. A single cause and the final status of all the services were not established based solely on the reporting provided.
References
Tags #ChatGPT #ChatGPT #ChatGPTOutage #OpenAI #OpenAI #Downdetector #AIServiceOutage #Claude #Claude #Grok #Grok #Gemini #MicrosoftAzure #MicrosoftAzure