According to updates on OpenAI’s status page, the disruption, which began at 3:16pm PST, was resolved by 7:38pm PST.

Key Details of the Outage

OpenAI confirmed that the issue stemmed from a configuration change that rendered many servers unavailable. The outage affected users globally, causing errors in API calls, login failures, and interruptions for both ChatGPT and Sora.

We’re experiencing an outage right now. We have identified the issue and are working to roll out a fix.

Sorry and we’ll keep you updated!

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) December 12, 2024

As of 6:50pm PST, OpenAI had partially restored services, with full recovery achieved shortly after.

The incident coincided with OpenAI’s “12 Days of OpenAI” campaign, an event highlighting daily product releases, including its integration with Apple Intelligence on iOS 18.2 and the public launch of Sora.

However, the outage disrupted the availability of these features, leading to widespread user frustration.

“We have identified the issue and are working to roll out a fix,” read an error message displayed on ChatGPT.com during the downtime.

The outage sparked frustration across social media, particularly among students and professionals who rely on OpenAI’s tools for critical tasks, highlighting the user dependency that already exists on ChatGPT.

Businesses utilising OpenAI’s API for applications also faced disruptions, potentially leading to revenue losses.

Read more: 2024’s Top Tech Turkeys: Musk Malaise, Heavy Headsets, and… CrowdStrike

Technical challenges amid rapid growth

The outage followed Sora’s high-demand launch earlier this week. Users reported difficulties accessing the service due to server capacity issues.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that the company had underestimated interest in the tool.

OpenAI developer community lead Edwin Arbus stated that the outage was unrelated to the “12 Days of OpenAI” campaign or the Apple Intelligence integration, attributing it instead to internal server configurations.

Neal Riley, co-founder of Salable, warned that even short interruptions could have lasting consequences in the competitive AI market.

“The recent introduction of Sora saw some immediate scaling challenges, and this latest outage comes on the heels of announcing ChatGPT’s integration into Apple Intelligence issues.

“While we have yet to see the post-mortem on this four-hour outage, the forums were raft with messages demonstrating minimal user tolerance for interruption to service.”

The outage occurred as OpenAI faces growing competition from Google and Amazon’s AI offerings. Both companies have released advanced AI products rapidly gaining traction, making user retention critical for OpenAI’s success.

Riley added: “Even four hours of downtime is enough to get users to try new services and break the muscle memory they have built up with ChatGPT.”

Following the incident, the company reported on its status page that it “will run a full root-cause analysis of this outage and share details on this page when complete.”

The post Major outage disrupts OpenAI’s ChatGPT, API, and Sora services appeared first on TechInformed.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that ChatGPT will be integrated into the manufacturer’s primary operating system, iOS 18, “by the end of 2024”.

During Apple’s latest earnings call, Cook confirmed that ChatGPT integration will be available as part of Apple’s new Apple Intelligence offering.

He also revealed features such as support for languages beyond US English would be staggered over the course of the year.

At Apple’s last developers conference, it announced plans to integrate ChatGPT with its own chatbot, Siri.

Read more…

TikTok agrees to withdraw Lite feature but still faces US lawsuit

Video-sharing app TikTok has agreed to cull its rewards program, TikTok Lite, in Europe following pressure from the European Commission.

The Chinese-owned social media firm said it would withdraw TikToke Lite from the EU and axe the roll-out of similar rewards functionalities to settle an investigation opened by the regulator in April under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

It is the first settlement under the DSA, which took effect in August 2023.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was ordered to suspend its app after it launched Lite in France and Spain earlier this year. Commissioners cited mental health concerns.

TikTok Lite allows users over the age of 18 to earn points under a reward program by performing tasks in the app, such as watching and liking content. These prizes can then be exchanged for rewards, such as TikTok’s coins currency or Amazon vouchers.

The announcement came as US regulators filed a new lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the firm of collecting children’s data and failing to delete it at parents’ requests.

The US Department of Justice claims the firm’s actions amount to a “massive scale” invasion of child privacy contrary to laws requiring parental permission to gather data on users under the age of 13.

TikTok has denied the claims.

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X to close San Francisco HQ to move in with Musk’s other projects

Billionaire Elon Musk has announced plans to shut down the San Francisco home of social media platform X.

The move comes less than two years after Musk acquired the firm, formerly known as Twitter. Musk claimed he had “no choice” but to close the office, citing financial regulations.

“It is impossible to operate in San Francisco if you’re processing payments,” he wrote in a post on X. “That’s why Stripe, Block (CashApp) and others had to move.”

Reports claim Musk is expected to move the social media firm to a new location in Austin, Texas, which is also home to some of his other businesses, including SpaceX.

According to the New York Times, California employees would be relocated to Silicon Valley, distributed between an existing office in San Jose and a new office to be built in Palo Alto, and shared with another of Musk’s companies, xAI.

Read more…

UK Government unveils £32 million in funding for AI projects to boost public services

The UK government has announced a £32 million investment in AI innovations aimed at improving safety on construction sites, reducing railway repair times, and cutting emissions across supply chains.

The funding supports 98 projects designed to boost productivity and stimulate economic growth through AI.

The 98 projects span from Southampton to Birmingham and Northern Ireland, involving over 200 businesses and research organisations across various sectors.

Minister for Digital Government and AI, Feryal Clark, noted that AI will “deliver real change for working people across the UK”, such as reducing train delays and streamlining NHS prescription deliveries.

This comes days after just days after Labour axed £1.3 billion of AI projects.

Read more…

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