OpenAI goes dark after Apple update combines Siri and ChatGPT

OpenAI recorded yet another major service disruption on Thursday. ChatGPT experienced an outage just hours after OpenAI announced its integration with iPhone, iPad, and Mac, rendering the service inaccessible worldwide. 

ChatGPT went down globally around 11:07 p.m. UTC on December 11. The outage also impacted the OpenAI API and Sora services. Users attempting to log in are faced with the warning “ChatGPT is currently unavailable.”

However, minutes after the outage, OpenAI apologized to its 200 million users, saying, “We’re experiencing an outage right now. We have identified the issue and are working to roll out a fix.”

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

The organization recognized the problem and resolved it by patching the flaw, which restored the AI chatbot. 

What happened?

The incident occurred on the same day that ChatGPT was integrated into the most recent version of Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri, on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. 

It coincided with Apple’s announcement on December 11 that ChatGPT would be integrated with Apple Intelligence. This integration enables Siri to access ChatGPT to address specific inquiries, such as inquiries regarding photos and documents.

Downdetecter data indicates that reports of ChatGPT’s network disruptions began at approximately 11:07 p.m. UTC on December 11.

Before the volume of incoming reports diminished, approximately 30 minutes later, an average of 1,532 reports over a 15-minute interval occurred.

ChatGPT was unavailable for nearly three hours to users worldwide who encountered difficulties on both the web and the app. At present, there is no definitive explanation for the cause of this disruption. 

Coincidentally, the outage occurred just hours after Meta’s WhatsApp and Facebook experienced a disruption.

This disruption marks at least ChatGPT’s fourth network outage in recent months, following similar disruptions in June and August.

After ChatGPT experienced a 30-minute outage last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued an apology on X. According to the outage monitoring website Downdetector, the chatbot’s unavailability affected more than 19,000 individuals. 

Altman acknowledged the outage in a post on X, noting that the company had made significant strides in reliability. However, there is still a significant amount of work to be done.

Details of the ChatGPT – Siri merge  

Apple initially disclosed the ChatGPT integration in June. Then, on Wednesday, it released software updates for its iPhone, iPad, and Mac, which include the ChatGPT integration with Siri. The ChatGPT integration is activated when users ask Siri complex queries. 

When Siri is posed a question that Apple’s software identifies as better suited for ChatGPT, it requests the user’s permission to access the OpenAI service. Apple asserts that the feature includes privacy safeguards and that OpenAI will not retain requests. 

The integration is a significant victory for OpenAI, as it exposes its most critical product to millions of iPhone users. 

Also, Apple is counting on Apple Intelligence to spearhead the marketing campaign for the iPhone 16 lineup, and the iOS 18.2 release is a critical milestone in this regard.

The financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed by either Apple or OpenAI.

Users can only install and access the Apple Intelligence feature on iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro, or any iPhone 16 models. Although the ChatGPT integration primarily relies on cloud servers, iPhone owners can activate software updates in the General section of the Settings program.

However, users will be prompted to configure Apple Intelligence after upgrading to the most recent Apple software as the service will require the download of huge files, such as Apple’s AI models, on their phones to function.