OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Sora Services Resume After Hours-Long Outage

OpenAI announced Thursday that its popular ChatGPT assistant, Sora video generator, and developer interface were fully operational again following an hours-long outage. The disruption lasted just over four hours, briefly halting access to some of the company’s widely used services.

This outage comes at a time when ChatGPT continues to expand rapidly. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, reported earlier in December that the service now reaches 300 million active users weekly. Moreover, Apple recently integrated ChatGPT into its software updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, bringing further mainstream exposure to the tool.

The company’s status page confirmed the issue had been resolved after the brief downtime. In June, OpenAI also experienced a similar issue, which lasted over five hours.

OpenAI, which reached a $157 billion valuation following an October funding round involving major investors such as Microsoft and Nvidia, has seen a meteoric rise since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022. This growth has cemented its position as one of the most talked-about companies in the tech world.

Additionally, OpenAI had announced the release of Sora on Monday to users in the U.S. and other countries. However, Altman admitted on X the following day that the demand for Sora had exceeded expectations, and it would take time before everyone gains access.