OpenAI's popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, faced a significant outage on Friday, affecting thousands of users worldwide. The Microsoft-backed company reported that the service disruption began around 7:13 p.m. ET, impacting over 19,403 users according to Downdetector, a real-time outage tracking website. Users reported issues accessing the chatbot, with many encountering a 'bad gateway' error.

OpenAI quickly responded to the situation, stating that they were aware of the issue and were working to restore functionality as soon as possible. By 4:34 p.m. PT, most users had regained access, although a small number continued to experience issues until 5 p.m. PT. CEO Sam Altman took to social media platform X to acknowledge the outage, expressing regret and emphasizing the company's commitment to improving reliability.

The outage also affected users of Siri's new ChatGPT integration on the iOS 18.2 beta, which allows interaction with ChatGPT through Siri without an OpenAI account. This feature, introduced by Apple, was temporarily disrupted, impacting iPhone, iPad, and Mac users testing the latest software updates.

Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT has rapidly grown in popularity, attracting 250 million weekly active users. OpenAI's valuation has surged from $14 billion in 2021 to $157 billion, with revenues reaching $3.6 billion. Despite the brief disruption, OpenAI's swift response highlights its commitment to maintaining service reliability as it continues to expand its influence in the AI sector.

OpenAI's growth has been bolstered by significant investments and partnerships with tech giants like Microsoft, Broadcom, and TSMC, as well as a shift towards developing specialized AI chips. These advancements aim to enhance the efficiency of AI model processing, moving away from reliance on Nvidia's GPUs.

The recent outage underscores the challenges faced by AI companies in maintaining consistent service availability, especially as reliance on AI tools like ChatGPT increases. OpenAI's ongoing efforts to improve reliability and user experience remain a priority as the company continues to innovate and expand its services.