TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Thousands of professionals and students across Taiwan found themselves suddenly without their artificial intelligence assistant Thursday (April 24) morning when ChatGPT, the widely used AI chatbot service, suffered a significant global outage. The disruption began around 10 a.m. local time, with users reporting they could log into their accounts but encountered persistent disconnections when attempting to generate any content. The service began showing signs of recovery by 11:48 a.m., nearly two hours after the initial problems surfaced.
Downdetector, a widely used internet service monitoring platform that tracks outages across popular websites and applications, reported a dramatic spike in failure reports beginning precisely at 10 a.m. Taiwan time. The sudden surge in user complaints across multiple continents confirmed that the problem stemmed from a widespread, systemic issue within OpenAI's infrastructure rather than isolated technical difficulties affecting individual users or specific geographic regions.
Within minutes of the outage, social media platforms erupted with frustrated users sharing their experiences and seeking confirmation that others faced similar issues. "Is OpenAI on strike today?" lamented one user, while another complained, "I was just about to write when it crashed." An engineer added a touch of humor to the situation by commenting, "AI needs coffee more than I do." Despite the widespread disruption, OpenAI has not yet released an official explanation for the service failure. Technology experts recommend users monitor the company's official channels for updates and consider having backup AI tools available to minimize workflow disruptions.
As users scrambled for workarounds, a Taiwanese technology expert shared two potential solutions on Facebook that reportedly helped some regain access to the AI service. The first method involved using a virtual private network (VPN) to route connections through servers in other countries, particularly the United States, where some users reported more stable service. The second workaround suggested abandoning the web interface entirely in favor of the dedicated ChatGPT mobile application or desktop version. This advice prompted a humorous response from several online users who joked, "Don't teach that! Now we have to work?" ★
