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A global outage looks like it's hitting ChatGPT hard, with a spike in reports that users are being locked out of OpenAI's chatbot.
Since arriving on the scene in November 2022, ChatGPT has boomed in popularity and sits alongside the likes of Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude as one of the biggest LLM's out there.
Issues appear to have started at around 10.05 am ET, with Downdetector reporting over 7,000 complaints in the United Kingdom.
Looking like it's spread, thousands of ChatGPT users in the USA have also reported issues as OpenAI confirms it's 'investigating' problems with the chatbot and Codex.
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An OpenAI status page has changed to report a 'partial outage' for ChatGPT and Codex, with it seeming like things are slowly returning to normal for those struck by the crash.
User reports indicate problems with OpenAI since 10:39 AM EDT.
— Downdetector (@downdetector) April 20, 2026
How is it affecting you? #OpenaiDownhttps://t.co/5Vkx451puO
As the latest update simply says, "We are investigating the issue for the listed services. Impacted users are currently unable to access ChatGPT, Codex and API Platform," it suggests OpenAI isn't completely out of the woods just yet. Looks like we'll have to survive without AI a little longer, although it backs up the idea of why Donald Trump's mythical kill switch might be a bad idea.
Over on X, there is a slew of negative comments, showing just how reliant we might've become on the likes of ChatGPT.
One angry user wrote: "Tomorrow is my exam and ChatGPT went down😭💔."
Another added: "CHAT GPT DOWN.... oh well, I guess time to relax since no work can be done anyway."
A third joked: "What hasn't collapsed in the country? Even ChatGPT couldn't hold out, poor thing."
More to follow…
