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.”

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OpenAI has revealed details about its experimental AI framework called Swarm, which offers developers a blueprint for creating interconnected AI networks capable of collaborating to solve complex tasks.

While OpenAI has stressed that Swarm is not an official product, the initiative has sparked intense discussion among AI ethicists about the future of automation.

It’s suggested that potential business applications could involve AI agents in various company departments collaborating to analyse market trends, devise marketing strategies, identify sales leads, and provide customer support with minimal human input.

The integration of the framework into businesses could free up employees to focus on other initiatives; it has also raised the question of the evolving nature of work and the future role of human decision-making.

Read more…

TikTok plans mass job cuts

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has reported that TikTok’s content moderation division is set to lose at least 125 jobs as part of a company strategy shake-up.

Those affected, who work in content moderation and other safety roles at the video platform, have been told they may be made redundant.

The platform employs approximately 500 staff in the UK focussed on content moderation, according to the Communication Workers Union.

TikTok sent an email to employees last week, stating that it was facing “evolving challenges” such as increased demands on moderation efforts, and a wider range of harmful content and bad actors. As a result, the company proposed to make changes.

The email was signed off with a link to a “wellbeing resources” document, illustrated with an image of hands in the shape of a heart.

Read more…

New UK bill set to reduce the addictiveness of social media to teens

A new heavyweight bill to be discussed in the UK parliament this week aims to exclude some teens from social media algorithms in a bid to make content less addictive.

The bill is backed by Labour, Conservatives and child protection experts.

The Safer Phones Bill, championed by Labour MP Josh MacAlister, will also include a review to determine if additional safeguards are necessary for phones used by individuals under 16.

MacAlister said: “Evidence is mounting that children doomscrolling for hours a day is causing widespread harm.”

Instagram introduces AI for age verification to protect children

Read more…

Elon Musk’s Robotaxi demo flops, prompting sell-off

Tesla shares fell sharply last week as investors were left underwhelmed by the company’s long-awaited Robotaxi demonstration.

Even well-known Tesla enthusiasts such as Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives said that Elon Musk failed to offer enough detail on how the company would roll out its Robotaxi venture.

Tesla is facing increasing competition from companies like Alphabet-owned Waymo. However, Musk, who unveiled 20 vehicles last week, stated that Tesla’s Cybercab would be priced at under $30,000, in contrast to the $250,000 for a Waymo taxi.

Musk also unveiled his Robovan, capable of carrying 20 passengers, but provided no production date or pricing for the product.

Read more…

Baidu drives its new robotaxi service in Chongqing and Wuhan

Google threatened by antitrust crackdown

The US government is considering a series of ‘remedies’ following its landmark judicial ruling against Google in August which could see the tech giant broken up.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Google, which accounts for 90 per cent of online searches, is illegally crushing competition and causing ‘pernicious harms’ to Americans.

It said Google used its Chrome browser and Android operating system to direct users to its search engine, where it makes money selling ads.

Remedies under consideration would be aimed at preventing Google from using these products to the advantage of its search engine.

More detailed proposals from the DOJ are expected next month, whilst Google has said the remedies ‘risk hurting consumers, businesses and developers’.

Read more…

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Musk launched the lawsuit in February, accusing the ChatGPT parent company of straying from its founding mission of creating AI for the greater good.

The dispute has since been a significant point of contention between two of the tech industry’s most influential figures, who were both involved in the founding of OpenAI in 2015.

The case had been progressing through the California court system until Musk suddenly requested a dismissal with no explanation for the decision yet.

Musk’s case alleged that OpenAI’s shift towards becoming a for-profit entity, including a partnership with Microsoft, violated the company’s “foundational agreement” to prioritise humanity’s greater good.

The case demanded that OpenAI be compelled to open up its technology and that it be prohibited from financially benefiting Microsoft, Altman, or OpenAI president Greg Brockman.

OpenAI and Altman firmly denied the allegations, arguing that no such “founding agreement” existed and suggesting that Musk’s support for the for-profit transition was documented.

In a blog post in March, OpenAI implied that Musk’s actions were driven by professional jealousy, stating, “We’re sad that it’s come to this with someone whom we’ve deeply admired.”

After co-founding the company alongside Altman, Brockman, LinkedIn co-founder Reed Hoffman and investor Peter Thiel, Musk left the board in 2018 amid a power struggle over the company’s direction. Since then, tensions between Musk and Altman have escalated.

Legal experts had expressed scepticism about Musk’s lawsuit, particularly questioning claims that OpenAI had developed AI matching human intelligence.

Despite the dismissal, Musk’s legal manoeuvres and public statements indicate ongoing discord rather than reconciliation.

Shortly after Apple announced its partnership with OpenAI, Musk threatened to ban Apple devices at his companies: “If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies,” Musk wrote in a post on X.

And visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2024

Apple’s assurances regarding user privacy protections, stating that OpenAI would not track users’ IP addresses or store their requests, have done little to alleviate Musk’s concerns.

Musk’s decision to withdraw the lawsuit may have been strategic, drawing attention to his grievances while avoiding a protracted legal battle.

David Hoffman, a contract law expert from the University of Pennsylvania, told Business Insider that these types of lawsuits “can air a lot of dirty laundry, and it can be a major distraction that could impact their day-to-day operations.”

Over the past few months, Musk has been positioning his companies to play a significant role in the AI industry, actively promoting Tesla as an AI or robotics company.

Moreover, Musk’s AI startup, xAI, announced last July, recently raised $6 billion in a Series B funding round, achieving a valuation of $24 billion.

This positions xAI as the second-most valuable AI company, second only to OpenAI, valued at approximately $80 billion. With these developments, Musk appears prepared to challenge OpenAI’s dominance in the AI sector.

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