ChatGPT was down for many, as OpenAI confirmed an issue — here's everything we know

03 Feb 2026, 21:26 · TechRadar

ChatGPT was down for many, as OpenAI confirmed an issue — here's everything we know

If you couldn't log in or get a conversation with ChatGPT going, you weren't alone

News By Jacob Krol last updated 3 February 2026

(Image: © Shutterstock / Primakov)

ChatGPT experienced a relatively small disruption this afternoon, February 3, 2026, as many users reported issues on Down Detector, and OpenAI has confirmed two issues.

The first is "Elevated error rates for finetuning jobs," and the second is "Elevated errors for ChatGPT and Platform users." Neither was ideal and could cause issues, such as ChatGPT not responding to messages or taking a bit longer to respond.

OpenAI confirmed the first issue about 20 minutes ago and the second about 44 minutes ago, at the time of this live blog's first publication, and both have since been updated to note that a fix has been rolled out. We've also seen reports on Down Detector climb to over 12,000, then drop to about under 300 in the United States. It was clearly an active situation that's on OpenAI's radar, impacting users in the US and UK.

For what it's worth, I have a ChatGPT Plus account and was able to log in and get an answer, even with OpenAI listing the disruption as active. It's since been resolved, but ahead, you can see our reporting on the disruption as it happened.

Refresh Get notified of updates 2026-02-03T21:26:42.432Z

My colleague, TechRadar's Managing Editor Entertainment, Matt Bolton, shared this screen grab with me of ChatGPT currently not responding on a free account.

(Image credit: Future/Matt Bolton)

OpenAI is at least quick to confirm issues with ChatGPT, and here's a look at the status page for the popular AI chatbot, detailing the active issues right now. Given elevated error rates in fin-tuning jobs and the platform itself, OpenAI has identified the causes and is working on mitigations.

The latter might explain the drop in reports on Down Detector.

(Image credit: Future)

2026-02-03T21:31:54.073Z

Judging by the comments and my colleague Matt's own shared experience, it appears that ChatGPT is having a harder time outside of the United States as of now. It might be that OpenAI is testing the mitigation here before rolling it out globally.

Comments on Down Detector note that it's down in the United States – which is my current experience, though it's a bit slow – and that it's still not working internationally, with Hungary specifically noted.

My colleague Matt is still unable to get ChatGPT to respond in the UK, but it responds instantly when using a US VPN. So that might be a workaround for now.

2026-02-03T21:35:03.006Z

ChatGPT is recovering from a disruption

There are several Reddit threads, including many noting when ChatGPT first went down, and one saying the popular AI chatbot came back about 18 minutes ago. You can see that here, and judging by the many responses, it appears ChatGPT has recovered.

On the VPN front, Matt is trying ChatGPT on a few different VPNs – it appears to be working in the United States, Ireland, Canada, India, and Poland, though the latter two are a bit slower to respond to queries.

2026-02-03T21:37:46.674Z

I've decided to go to the source; my ChatGPT Plus account in the United States gave me a pretty happy response when I asked if it's back up from an outage. Noting that it's "A little rebooted, slightly caffeinated (metaphorically), and feeling pretty good."

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

2026-02-03T21:42:02.418Z

ChatGPT says the main problem is fixed

As of 4:21 PM ET, OpenAI has updated its status page, writing, "We have identified the issue, applied the necessary mitigations and are monitoring the recovery." And that's in line with when we saw some recovery and saw the AI chatbot returning to regular operation.

My colleague Matt has shared that it's back in the UK and 'working well enough'. So hopefully this means that ChatGPT is back on your end as well, if this blip impacted you.

2026-02-03T21:47:05.326Z

Down Detector reports have dropped

Along with OpenAI confirming it's rolled out a fix for the 'elevated errors' issues and is monitoring ChatGPT, reports of issues with the service have dropped significantly on Down Detector.

As of 4:28 PM ET in the United States, ChatGPT has 333 reports.

(Image credit: Future)

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