ChatGPT had some issues earlier, but it’s back — here’s what you need to know

Whether you were trying to ask ChatGPT for some help with an email, to give you the best recipe possible for some chicken noodle soup, or any other number of queries, it's clear that the AI chatbot had some issues today, December 2, 2025. And OpenAI was quick to confirm that something was up.

In a post shortly after 2:40 PM ET on its status page, OpenAI writes, "We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services." The good news was that OpenAI was quick to note a problem and eventually fix it, completing a mitigation rollout at 3:12 PM ET and then monitoring the recovery.

During the elevated error rate, I, as well as a few of my colleagues, couldn't get ChatGPT to respond, and ahead of you can read our live coverage and reporting tracking the ChatGPT outage.

2025-12-02T19:51:13.019Z

So here's what ChatGPT looks like when you ask it a query, and yes, it's a bit empty with the circle just constantly spinning on mobile; it also looks the same on the web app right now.

2025-12-02T19:57:23.614Z

OpenAI confirms an issue

Here's a live look at the status page, showing that OpenAI is working to fix the issue with ChatGPT elevated errors. No specifics on what is causing the outage as of yet, though. Past ChatGPT outages have lasted anywhere from a few hours to many, many hours, so here's hoping this is a quick fix.

2025-12-02T19:59:13.278Z

Down Detector reports are starting to climb

While it's not skyrocketing, Down Detector reports issues with ChatGPT have climbed to over 3,400 as of 2:40 PM ET. That's the last update from the service, but it's likely still at that level if not a bit higher.

2025-12-02T20:05:18.097Z

It's not a resolution update, but OpenAI has updated its status page at 2:57 PM ET, writing, "We are investigating the issue for the listed services." under the same "Increased ChatGPT error rates." Seems like the teams at OpenAI are looking further into what is causing the elevated error rates.

Via my ChatGPT Plus account on the web, I'm still not getting any response from the AI, with the spinning, or rather glowing circle, just lasting for minutes.

2025-12-02T20:08:02.298Z

ChatGPT might be returning for some

Here's some good news – Lance Ulanoff, TechRadar's Editor-at-Large, is once again chatting with ChatGPT. This might be a sign that the AI chatbot is rebounding for some. I'll give it a go on my end as well, but my original query is still spinning.

2025-12-02T20:16:19.323Z

OpenAI says it has applied a fix for ChatGPT's increased error rates

As of 3:12 PM ET, OpenAI says ChatGPT should be back for most users or closer to normal operations, writing, "We have applied the mitigation and are monitoring the recovery." The color for status has also gone back to green, pointing to operational, versus yellow.

And at the same time, my ChatGPT is now responding to my queries again, so this might be one of the shorter issues with the AI Chatbot in recent memory.

2025-12-02T20:19:13.619Z

Down Detector reports are dropping

Down Detector reports have started to drop as well, now sitting at 115 reports for ChatGPT as of 3:03 PM ET. Hopefully, your experience with ChatGPT is now back to normal, but OpenAI is still monitoring for full recovery from increased error rates now that the fix has been deployed.

If you're still encountering issues, it's worth refreshing the browser if you're on the web, or opening a new chat in the ChatGPT app after closing and reopening it, as that might do the trick.

2025-12-02T20:41:25.293Z

OpenAI is still monitoring for ChatGPT's recovery, but we're nearing 30 minutes after the fix was deployed. The status page is still showing operational, and Down Detector reports have continued to drop.