OpenAI's two flagship products—ChatGPT chat assistant and Sora video generator—experienced a widespread "outage" on Wednesday, leaving users around the world unable to access them. OpenAI officially announced on the X platform that they have identified the issue and are working diligently to fix it.
According to analysis, the "culprit" behind this ChatGPT outage may be Apple. Just yesterday, Apple released new software versions for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, which included a significant update that deeply integrated ChatGPT features into Siri.
Today, aside from a few countries, a large number of Apple devices worldwide received system updates, and the new ChatGPT feature in Siri undoubtedly placed a tremendous load on OpenAI's servers, ultimately causing them to crash.
OpenAI confirmed that its AI chatbot ChatGPT is experiencing a global outage, affecting not only user access but also the integration with Siri in iOS 18.2.
This outage lasted over three hours, causing significant inconvenience to millions of users who rely on OpenAI's services. Back in June, ChatGPT also faced an outage lasting more than five hours, raising concerns among users about the stability of OpenAI's services. Fortunately, around 11 AM Beijing time, ChatGPT was restored to normal access.
This incident once again highlights the enormous demand for computing power in AI services and the challenges posed by sudden spikes in traffic. The collaboration between Apple and OpenAI was intended to enhance user experience, but it inadvertently caused unexpected "side effects." How to balance technological innovation with service stability will be a serious consideration for OpenAI and other AI companies. Additionally, this serves as a reminder that while enjoying the conveniences of AI technology, we must also remain vigilant about its potential risks.
