ChatGPT Down Days After Search Engine Launch

Update at 11:35 a.m. ET: Problems with ChatGPT appear to have been resolved, with the service once again working normally and DownDetector showing reported faults dropping back down to average levels.

The ChatGPT service has been unreliable for the past couple of hours, with error messages appearing, particularly when trying to use the new search engine facility.

ChatGPT on Monday appeared to be suffering an outage, just days after OpenAI built a search engine into the chatbot.

The website intermittently displayed a “404 Not Found” error message.

The DownDetector website also reported that “user reports indicate possible problems at OpenAI” with graphs showing a sharp spike in the volume of errors being reported.

The OpenAI Status page is yet to report any problems with the service.

ChatGPT search launched last week, allowing users to search the web for information via the AI chatbot. Although ChatGPT has long had the ability to search the web for up-to-date information, the new facility lets users click an icon to search online, instead of having to prompt the AI to do so.

The new search facility also offers richer results than what was available previously, for example plotting restaurants on a map, or displaying photos of items you might be shopping for.

The search facility is currently only available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers who pay $20 a month to access the service.

ChatGPT Down Again?

ChatGPT’s latest blip is the first notable disruption that the service has suffered in a while, if the OpenAI Status page is accurate.

It suffered a major outage on Oct. 17, but that only lasted for 12 minutes. Prior to that, the most recent incident was on Sept. 20, when it suffered a partial outage lasting a couple of hours.

ChatGPT suffered a series of problems in August, although OpenAI claims that the chatbot has had 99.84% uptime over the past 90 days.