June 5, 2024 In an unprecedented event, three major AI providers—OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Perplexity—experienced simultaneous outages on Tuesday morning, raising concerns about broader infrastructure issues or internet-scale problems.
The first signs of trouble appeared around 7:33 AM PT when users found they could not message the ChatGPT AI chatbot. This outage lasted until 10:17 AM PT, marking a multi-hour disruption. Meanwhile, Claude and Perplexity also faced issues but managed to resolve them more quickly.
Google’s Gemini appeared to be operating normally, though some users reported brief connectivity issues. The simultaneous outages across these major AI platforms suggest a possible larger-scale problem, akin to those that periodically affect multiple social media sites.
During ChatGPT’s outage, users visiting its landing page were greeted with a message indicating the service was at capacity. Interestingly, this message was displayed in pirate speak, and users were offered the option to be notified when the service resumed.
Claude’s website displayed an error message related to server component rendering issues, advising users to try again later. Claude was back online by 12:10 PM ET.
Perplexity’s site also experienced over-capacity issues, displaying a message stating, “We’ll be right back,” due to a surge in requests. The service resumed around the same time as Claude but experienced intermittent outages.
This incident follows an earlier multi-hour outage affecting ChatGPT overnight, during which the service was down globally. OpenAI’s status page confirmed the initial issue had been fixed around 12:21 AM PT, but the service went down again later in the morning.
As of now, the AI providers have not returned requests for comment or provided additional information about the outages. However, the widespread disruption has sparked considerable speculation and concern within the tech community.
The outages have not gone unnoticed on social media, with users expressing frustration and confusion. Some have humorously likened the situation to an “AI apocalypse.”
In related news, Forbes reported a zero-day spam attack on TikTok, affecting select celebrity and brand accounts, including Paris Hilton and CNN. This adds to the ongoing concerns about the stability and security of online services.
This series of events underscores the growing pains of AI and digital infrastructure as they become increasingly integral to daily operations and communications.
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