FameEX Hot Topics | OpenAI Apologizes for Outage Following Apple Update Merging Siri and ChatGPT

ChatGPT experienced a global outage on Dec. 11, starting at approximately 11:07 PM UTC, affecting millions of users worldwide. OpenAI apologized to its 200 million active users after the chatbot encountered a network disruption shortly following its integration into Apple’s latest software update.

The outage coincided with the rollout of ChatGPT’s integration into Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri, on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. This update enables Siri to utilize ChatGPT for answering complex queries, including questions about photos and documents. Apple announced the new features on Dec. 11, emphasizing their ability to enhance visual intelligence by helping users “learn more about the places and objects around them.” These ChatGPT-powered capabilities are available on most iPhone 15 models and above.

During the outage, Many users attempting to access ChatGPT’s API were hit with a message stating: “ChatGPT is currently unavailable” and that OpenAI has “identified the issue” and is “working to roll out a fix.” The company also reported that its video generation model, Sora, was affected by the disruption.

Downdetector data revealed that reports of ChatGPT network failures surged around 11:07 PM UTC, A peak of 1,532 reports over a 15-minute interval was made around 30 minutes later before the volume of incoming reports slowed. The number of incoming reports gradually declined thereafter. OpenAI updated users at 3:53 AM UTC on Dec. 12, announcing that traffic to ChatGPT and Sora had “largely recovered.” However, OpenAI has not confirmed whether the outage was directly caused by the Apple integration.

This incident marks at least the fourth major network outage for ChatGPT since June, following similar disruptions in June and August. While the service is now restored, the timing highlights the challenges of integrating advanced AI technologies into widely used platforms, raising concerns about system stability during significant updates.

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