ChatGPT appears to be facing issues for a section of users on August 13, with outage tracking platform Downdetector recording a sharp spike in complaints. Reports climbed to 92 around 11:59 am, against
a baseline of just 2, pointing to a fresh disruption after a relatively quiet start to the day.
What Downdetector shows
The Downdetector graph for OpenAI had stayed close to flat through the day, with only minor blips overnight, before jumping sharply in the late morning. This kind of sudden spike typically signals a fresh service disruption rather than a gradual buildup of issues.
Where users are facing problems
A breakdown of reported issues shows ChatGPT accounts for 63 percent of complaints, making it the most affected service. The web browser follows at 17 percent, while Codex, OpenAI’s coding tool, makes up 13 percent of reports. Together, these three categories cover the bulk of user complaints during this window.
A recurring pattern for OpenAI
This is not the first time ChatGPT has faced disruptions recently. OpenAI’s status page has logged several incidents through late July and August, including elevated error rates affecting ChatGPT Go conversations, issues with image generation, and problems with Custom GPT actions. Outages tied to API errors, login issues and elevated error rates have become a fairly regular occurrence for the platform over the past few weeks.
What to do if ChatGPT isn’t working
If you’re facing issues, refreshing the page, clearing the browser cache, or switching between the web and app versions can sometimes help. It’s also worth checking OpenAI’s official status page for updates, since the company typically posts acknowledgements and fixes there once an issue is confirmed. This article will be updated if OpenAI issues an official statement on the cause of today’s disruption.
