On the morning of Thursday, January 23, 2025, ChatGPT, one of the main artificial intelligence platforms developed by OpenAI, experienced a global outage that impacted thousands of users in different regions of the world, including professionals who work in content production . Reports of difficulties in accessing and problems generating responses were registered by companies and individuals in countries such as Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.
According to O Globo , the outage began around 8:30 am (Brasília time), when users began reporting mass outages. The Downdetector platform, known for monitoring the status of online services, registered a substantial increase in the number of error notifications related to ChatGPT.
In Brazil, alerts surpassed the 3,000 notification mark in just a few hours. In the United States, that number reached around 4,300, while in the United Kingdom there were approximately 5,300 reports of problems.
What caused the instability?
According to OpenAI’s official statement, the outage was line data caused by “an increase in ChatGPT errors.” The company said that technical teams were quickly mobilized to investigate the origins of the instability and work on a definitive solution. OpenAI’s official status page was updated in real time to inform users about the progress of the situation.
Although the company reported that service was partially restored in some regions in the following hours, many users continued to experience problems until late morning. According to technology experts, failures of this type can be attributed to server overload, technical maintenance issues or even updates that temporarily affect the system's functionality.
OpenAI assured that measures were being implemented to resolve the issue and prevent future outages, but did not reveal technical details about the root cause. This led to speculation on forums and social media, where users shared their frustrations and doubts about the reliability of the service.
Impact on the corporate world
The ChatGPT outage brought major challenges, especially for companies that use the tool in critical operations. Artificial intelligence is widely used in areas such as customer service, content generation, technical support, and even strategic decision-making.
For many managers, the dependence on solutions like ChatGPT has become clear. Companies that rely on AI to manage daily tasks have faced delays, interruptions, and difficulties in maintaining efficiency standards. This reinforces the need for contingency strategies to deal with possible failures in technological tools.