In a rare and widespread technical disruption, OpenAI’s flagship AI chatbot, ChatGPT, suffered a massive global outage on June 10, 2025, bringing productivity to a halt for millions of users. The outage hit hardest in India and the United States — two of ChatGPT’s most active user bases.

India and U.S. Users Bear the Brunt

Productivity Grinds to a Halt Across Key Sectors

Users in India and the U.S. flooded social media platforms with complaints and memes as ChatGPT stopped responding mid-sessions. Reports began emerging around midnight IST (2:30 p.m. EDT), as developers, students, educators, and content creators lost access simultaneously. In India, where AI is deeply integrated into education and freelancing, frustration ran high. Meanwhile, U.S.-based users voiced concern over workplace delays and AI-reliant workflows.

Official Response from OpenAI

Company Cites Backend Malfunction; Investigations Underway

OpenAI acknowledged the problem via its status page and official X (formerly Twitter) account. “We are currently investigating a major outage affecting ChatGPT. Our team is working to resolve it as quickly as possible,” the company said. By early morning IST, partial services had resumed for some users, although full restoration remains underway.

System Dependency Under Scrutiny

Outage Sparks Debate on Reliability of AI Tools

The disruption has reignited concerns about growing reliance on centralized AI systems. While OpenAI has not released technical specifics, experts speculate that the outage could be linked to issues within server infrastructure or model deployment pipelines. Some have also questioned whether high user loads, especially post-GPT-4o rollout, may have overwhelmed backend systems.

What Comes Next?

Restoration Underway, But Trust Needs Rebuilding

As OpenAI scrambles to restore full functionality, users are left to ponder backup options and the importance of diversified tools. The incident has spotlighted both the power and fragility of AI tools in modern digital workflows. While ChatGPT is expected to recover fully within hours, its first global crash in months could mark a turning point in how AI dependence is managed going forward.