Technical failure that threw ChatGPT off balance

ChatGPT issues worldwide began Wednesday morning when some API models showed “elevated error rates”

Users had difficulty accessing the chatbot as the platform was hit by a major internal outage

It is worth noting that the GenAI giant currently has over 200 million users worldwide, of which over 9% are in India, making it the country’s second largest sales market

Early Wednesday morning (September 18), OpenAI’s AI-powered conversational chatbot ChatGPT experienced a “partial outage” that affected users worldwide.

According to the company, the problem began around 3:50 PM PDT (4:20 AM IST) when some API models began showing “elevated error rates.” However, a partial outage reached Indian shores a few hours later in the morning when users began reporting issues accessing the chatbot.

The company claims to have resolved the issue.

According to DownDetector, as many as 24 outage reports were received from India starting around 9:30 a.m. By noon, the number of reports had increased to 54, after which it had decreased and increased to around 48 reports by 5:30 p.m. According to the website, users from all major cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Indore and others, have reported issues accessing ChatGPT.

However, this is not the first time the company has been hit by a technical glitch. On September 16, all API requests on the platform were blocked, and users had difficulty creating new accounts and logging in.

Additionally, the ChatGPT web interface has encountered issues, particularly with one version of the Google Chrome browser, as noted on the OpenAI status page .

In the meantime, ChatGPT Enterprise users were encountering issues with the Workspace Analytics tab not returning data.

Notably, the GenAI giant now has over 200 million users worldwide, with over 9% of that in India, making India the company’s second-largest market. In a move to bolster its presence in India, OpenAI hired Pragyya Misra, a former Meta and Truecaller employee, in April to head public policy and partnerships in the country.

This development comes at a time when the GenAI ecosystem in India is attracting significant investor interest. India is currently home to over 100 generative AI startups, with a combined over 600 million dollars were raised since 2019. Earlier this year, Krutrim Oli became the country’s first artificial intelligence unicorn.

Meanwhile, the Indian government has also taken proactive steps by approving the IndiaAI Mission budget of 10,372 Cr over the next five years.

The purpose of this funding is to promote innovation in the national AI ecosystem and achieve mission objectives through a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

According to a report by Inc42, the generative AI market in India is expected to grow rapidly and is expected to expand from $1.1 billion in 2023 to over $17 billion by 2030with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48%.