ChatGPT was having some issues — here's everything we know

1. AI Platforms & Assistants
2. OpenAI
3. ChatGPT

ChatGPT was having some issues — here's everything we know

If you received an error back from ChatGPT earlier, you weren't alone

News By Jacob Krol last updated 4 February 2026

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Just a day after ChatGPT experienced issues for users worldwide, it seems the popular AI chatbot is in the midst of another disruption. As of 12:15 PM ET, reports on Down Detector for ChatGPT have quickly risen to over 10,000.

While the issue is still rising, OpenAI only confirmed it as of 12:40 PM ET, writing, "We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services." It's impacting the availability of ChatGPT.

On the desktop with my ChatGPT Plus account, I'm still able to get responses in a fairly quick amount of time, but coworkers are being sent the "Hmm... something seems to have gone wrong message."

We've reached out to OpenAI to ask what's impacting ChatGPT, but in the meantime, to track the situation in real time, TechRadar is spinning up a live blog. And just three minutes ago at 12:40 PM ET, OpenAI did

Refresh Get notified of updates 2026-02-04T17:44:39.448Z

Here's a look at Down Detector where you can see the pretty quick spike near the bottom of the hour for issues with ChatGPT and OpenAI.

(Image credit: Future) 2026-02-04T17:47:29.858Z

OpenAI confirms an active issue with ChatGPT availability

OpenAI has confirmed an issue impacting the 'availability' of ChatGPT, which would explain why some folks are getting the "Hmm... something went wrong" error message back, suggesting they try sending the message again.

The good news is that OpenAI has identified the issue and is "working on implementing a mitigation."

(Image credit: OpenAI) 2026-02-04T17:49:22.193Z

If you're wondering what those error messages look like, here's what my colleague Eric Schwartz shared with me. He got this error back – "Hmm... something seems to have gone wrong." on mobile, but also received the below error on desktop.

"Something went wrong while generating the response. If this issue persists please contact us through our help center at help.openai.com."

Let us know in the comments below if ChatGPT is working for you or if you're receiving an error.

(Image credit: Future) 2026-02-04T17:53:03.841Z

OpenAI has issued a further update, writing, "We are investigating the issue for the listed services." as of 12:50 PM ET. This might suggest that OpenAI's team is still investigating what is causing the problems, but I'll also note we're seeing a slight drop in reports on Down Detector, down to 8,830.

2026-02-04T17:59:08.955Z

While my ChatGPT Plus is still responding, it is taking a notable bit longer to respond to queries, both simple and a bit more extravagant.

Many impacted users are taking to social media to share their frustration, though my colleague Eric's ChatGPT appears to be back ... at least momentarily.

2026-02-04T18:06:26.728Z

Well, even better news now! Along with reports on Down Detector hovering above 1,000, OpenAI has updated the incident on its status page to note it's now monitoring recovery. And that means they've issued a fix for whatever the underlying problem was, causing an issue for "ChatGPT availability."

The update reads, "We have applied the mitigation and are monitoring the recovery," and this hopefully means ChatGPT is returning to regular operation for you.

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