ChatGPT down: AI chatbot faces major outage on March 17, 2025

On March 17, 2025, ChatGPT, the popular AI-powered chatbot, experienced a major outage, leaving many users unable to access the platform. Reports flooded social media as users encountered connection errors, including the message, “upstream connect error or disconnect/reset before headers. reset reason: overflow.” This disruption affected countless individuals trying to access ChatGPT for various purposes.

ALSO SEE: Stimulus Checks in 2025: What you need to know about potential payments

What happened during the ChatGPT outage?

Users first reported issues around 3:11 PM Eastern Time, according to outage tracking service DownDetector. The complaints quickly spiked, indicating that the problem was widespread. Many users shared similar error messages, including "Gateway time-out," which points to server-related issues. This error suggests that the OpenAI servers, which power ChatGPT, were either overloaded or temporarily unavailable, causing delays in response times.

Common error messages reported by users

During the outage, users encountered a variety of error messages, with the most common being:

• "Upstream connect error or disconnect/reset before headers."
• "Reset reason: overflow."
• "Gateway time-out."

These errors all suggest problems with the connectivity between users and ChatGPT’s servers, likely due to high traffic or server overloads. The Gateway time-out error, in particular, indicates that OpenAI’s servers were not responding promptly, leading to an interruption in service.

Why did ChatGPT go down?

While OpenAI has not officially addressed the outage, it is likely due to server overloads or technical issues on the company’s end. As ChatGPT continues to be a high-demand tool, especially with the growing use of AI chatbots, server capacity can sometimes be strained. High traffic or technical glitches can result in the service becoming temporarily unavailable.

ALSO SEE: Savage Pet recalls cat food over Bird Flu risk: What pet owners need to know

What can ChatGPT users expect moving forward?

At the time of writing, OpenAI has not issued any official statements regarding the outage, leaving many users in the dark about the cause and any potential solutions. However, users can expect that the issue will be resolved as OpenAI’s technical team works to fix any server-related problems. As with previous outages, service may resume after the necessary adjustments are made.

During the outage, ChatGPT users took to social media to express their frustration and confusion. Many reported being unable to access the service for several hours, with some users even questioning whether ChatGPT was permanently down. For those relying on ChatGPT for work or personal use, this type of disruption can be especially frustrating, as it halts important tasks that depend on the AI’s capabilities.