In an unprecedented incident, leading AI tools ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude went down simultaneously on Tuesday, leaving users scrambling for alternatives and highlighting the interconnected vulnerabilities in AI systems.
On Tuesday, OpenAI’s ChatGPT experienced its second major outage of the day, affecting a significant number of users globally. According to a report by The Verge, the status update from OpenAI read, “ChatGPT is unavailable for some users,” indicating ongoing investigations into the issue. Concurrently, AI tools Perplexity and Claude also faced similar outages, causing widespread disruption.
A statement on the Claude website noted, “An error occurred in the Server Components render. The specific message is omitted in production builds to avoid leaking sensitive details. A digest property is included on this error instance which may provide additional details about the nature of the error,” as reported by TechCrunch.
Despite the setbacks, Claude’s website was restored shortly after the issue was identified.
The outages spurred a flurry of activity on social media. Users flocked to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm the downtime, sharing memes and expressing frustration. One user remarked, “Everyone coming to X to confirm chatgpt down,” while another humorously stated, “ChatGPT is down which means we are back to the middle ages.”
In a related development, a group of OpenAI’s current and former employees published an open letter urging AI companies to bolster whistleblower protections. The letter emphasized the need for safe reporting mechanisms for employees who flag AI safety risks, without fear of retaliation.
Former OpenAI employee Daniel Kokotajlo, who left the company earlier this year, voiced his concerns about the industry’s rapid pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI). He stated, “I decided to leave OpenAI because I lost hope that they would act responsibly, particularly as they pursue AGI. They and others have bought into the ‘move fast and break things’ approach, which is the opposite of what is needed for technology this powerful and poorly understood.”
The simultaneous outages underscore the need for robust and resilient AI systems, capable of maintaining operational stability in the face of unexpected disruptions.
