A widespread service disruption impacted users of ChatGPT and related developer tools early Tuesday, causing delays and access issues for thousands. The disruption began during the early morning hours, with monitoring services reporting a sharp increase in user complaints by 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The issue extended beyond the chatbot, affecting OpenAI’s video generation tool, Sora, and its API services used by developers worldwide.

OpenAI acknowledged the problem and initiated an internal investigation shortly after 2:30 a.m. The company confirmed elevated error rates and slower response times, indicating a technical fault had been identified and was under active resolution. While signs of recovery appeared by late morning, complete restoration across all systems was expected to take several hours.

By midday, performance had stabilized for many users, though intermittent issues persisted according to real-time monitoring sites and user reports. The outage sparked a flurry of commentary across social media, where some users noted decreased productivity, with office workers humorously lamenting the need to complete tasks manually.

The timing of the outage comes as AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming increasingly embedded in daily workflows. Recent data shows a sharp increase in workplace usage, with surveys indicating that use among employees has doubled in the past year. Among teenagers, adoption is also rising rapidly, with a quarter now using AI for schoolwork—twice the figure from 2023.

While OpenAI directed users to its system status page and social media channels for updates, the disruption drew comparisons to other major tech outages seen this year, including incidents involving video conferencing and social media platforms. The event underscored the growing dependence on AI-driven tools across both professional and educational environments, and the ripple effects that service instability can cause in real-time productivity.