ChatGPT and Codex outage
- ChatGPT and Codex experienced a global outage on April 20, blocking access for many users. - Users across multiple regions reported service failures while OpenAI investigated the incident. - The disruption highlights operational risk for AI tools increasingly embedded in product and developer workflows (tomsguide.com).
OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Codex went down worldwide on Monday, April 20, leaving users unable to load the chatbot, coding tools, and parts of the company’s API platform. (status.openai.com) OpenAI’s status page marked the incident as a “partial outage” affecting 12 ChatGPT components and one Codex component, with the disruption window listed from 7:35 a.m. to 9:48 a.m. on April 20 before the company posted a resolved update at 11:48 a.m. (status.openai.com) At 9:03 a.m., OpenAI said impacted users were “currently unable to access ChatGPT, Codex and API Platform,” then posted a series of monitoring updates at 10:43 a.m. and 11:17 a.m. saying it had applied a mitigation. (status.openai.com) Codex is OpenAI’s coding agent, a software tool that can read, edit, and run code in a browser, terminal, or code editor. OpenAI says Codex is included with ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, Edu, and Enterprise plans, which ties the outage to both consumer chat use and developer work. (developers.openai.com ) (developers.openai.com) OpenAI’s developer documentation says Codex works in the cloud, inside Visual Studio Code-compatible editors, and through a command-line interface on macOS, Windows, and Linux. That means a single outage can hit chat sessions, background coding tasks, and in-editor assistance at the same time. (developers.openai.com 1) (developers.openai.com 2) (developers.openai.com 3) The company’s status history shows this was not an isolated service wobble. OpenAI logged a Europe-specific ChatGPT conversations incident, ChatGPT website access issues on virtual private networks, and multiple Codex disruptions in recent weeks and months. (status.openai.com 1) (status.openai.com 2) Outside OpenAI’s own systems, outage trackers and tech outlets reported thousands of user complaints during the April 20 disruption, with reports centered on login failures, gateway errors, and missing conversations. (moneycontrol.com) (androidauthority.com) Tom’s Guide described the outage as broad enough to stall work for users who rely on ChatGPT during the day, a sign of how quickly the service has moved from optional assistant to everyday infrastructure for writing, search, and software tasks. (tomsguide.com) By Tuesday, April 21, OpenAI’s public status page showed its systems operational again. The outage lasted hours, but it interrupted tools the company now sells as always-on work products. (status.openai.com)
