ChatGPT was down for many, as OpenAI confirmed an issue — here’s everything we know

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2026-02-03T21:26:42.432Z

My colleague, TechRadar’s Managing Editor Entertainment, Matt Bolton, shared this screen grab with me of ChatGPT currently not responding on a free account.

(Image credit: Future/Matt Bolton)

OpenAI is at least quick to confirm issues with ChatGPT, and here’s a look at the status page for the popular AI chatbot, detailing the active issues right now. Given elevated error rates in fin-tuning jobs and the platform itself, OpenAI has identified the causes and is working on mitigations.

The latter might explain the drop in reports on Down Detector.

(Image credit: Future)

2026-02-03T21:31:54.073Z

Judging by the comments and my colleague Matt’s own shared experience, it appears that ChatGPT is having a harder time outside of the United States as of now. It might be that OpenAI is testing the mitigation here before rolling it out globally.

Comments on Down Detector note that it’s down in the United States – which is my current experience, though it’s a bit slow – and that it’s still not working internationally, with Hungary specifically noted.

My colleague Matt is still unable to get ChatGPT to respond in the UK, but it responds instantly when using a US VPN. So that might be a workaround for now.

2026-02-03T21:35:03.006Z
ChatGPT is recovering from a disruption

There are several Reddit threads, including many noting when ChatGPT first went down, and one saying the popular AI chatbot came back about 18 minutes ago. You can see that here, and judging by the many responses, it appears ChatGPT has recovered.

On the VPN front, Matt is trying ChatGPT on a few different VPNs – it appears to be working in the United States, Ireland, Canada, India, and Poland, though the latter two are a bit slower to respond to queries.

2026-02-03T21:37:46.674Z

I’ve decided to go to the source; my ChatGPT Plus account in the United States gave me a pretty happy response when I asked if it’s back up from an outage. Noting that it’s “A little rebooted, slightly caffeinated (metaphorically), and feeling pretty good.”

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

2026-02-03T21:42:02.418Z
ChatGPT says the main problem is fixed

2026-02-03T21:47:05.326Z
Down Detector reports have dropped

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