Is ChatGPT Acting Up? You’re Not Alone. Here’s What’s Going On — and What You Can Do Instead
Did ChatGPT seem a little off this morning? You’re not imagining it. OpenAI faced a sweeping outage early Tuesday that left millions wondering what went wrong. Reports of disruptions surged steadily throughout the morning, as users struggled with delays, failed responses, and unresponsive features.
OpenAI eventually confirmed the issue via email to CNET, pointing curious minds to its official status page. The post initially noted “elevated errors and latency,” and that their engineers had pinpointed the cause and were working hard on a fix. Meanwhile, Sora—OpenAI’s experimental AI video tool—also went offline. Thankfully, an update at 8:28 a.m. ET announced that “all impacted services have now fully recovered.”
Still, recovery wasn’t instant. At 10:54 a.m. ET (7:54 a.m. PT), OpenAI added that a full system recovery might take a few more hours. The company said that while things were improving, elevated error rates and slowdowns continued across ChatGPT and its API services—the backbone developers use to build on OpenAI’s models.
According to OpenAI, the problems stretched back at least seven hours, with outages likely beginning just after midnight PT. This timeline aligns with data from Downdetector, which showed a sharp rise in reports during the night. (Important context: Downdetector is owned by Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company.)
ChatGPT, launched in 2022, is the most widely used AI app to date, with an estimated 400 million users per week. Even with strong rivals like Meta AI, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot entering the scene, ChatGPT has held its lead—largely thanks to its user-friendly interface and vast capabilities. At Apple’s 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference, the tech giant even spotlighted its deepening partnership with ChatGPT, cementing the AI tool’s place in the future of user experiences.
If you’re unfamiliar, ChatGPT processes user prompts using massive language models trained on internet data and published texts. It mimics human-like responses with startling precision. However, not everything about its creation has been smooth—Ziff Davis (again, CNET’s parent company) filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April, accusing it of copyright infringement during training and use of its models.
So What Now? What Can You Use While ChatGPT is Down?
While ChatGPT is temporarily out of service, that doesn’t mean your workflow has to stop. There are solid, free alternatives to keep you going:
Chatbots
Claude is our top pick right now. Not only is it conversationally sharp, but it was already aware of the ChatGPT outage during our tests. CNET Senior Editor Jon Reed, who covers AI developments closely, confirmed that Claude offered clear details about the disruption—without missing a beat.
Image Generators
If DALL·E 3 (ChatGPT’s built-in image tool) is currently unavailable, give Leonardo.Ai a try for imaginative, high-quality visuals. Need something a bit simpler? Canva offers an intuitive design experience that’s perfect for beginners and quick projects—and yes, it’s free.
Video Generators
Sora might be out of commission, but video creators have other options. Microsoft’s Bing Video Creator recently caught our attention. It’s smooth, mobile-friendly, and incredibly easy to use—ideal if you need to whip up an AI-powered video in a pinch.
Bottom line: If you rely on AI tools like ChatGPT, temporary outages can feel disruptive. But thankfully, the landscape is full of capable alternatives, ready to step in and help you keep moving. Whether you’re writing, designing, or creating videos, you don’t have to wait around. The AI world is vast—explore it.