OpenAI Investigates Service Disruption Impacting ChatGPT Image Creation and Uploads
OpenAI is looking into an ongoing service problem that is causing image generation requests to fail and file uploads to stall in ChatGPT. The company has acknowledged elevated error rates for the Images API and noted that some requests may still fail even after applying mitigations. This incident follows a separate major outage earlier in the week that disrupted multiple ChatGPT components.
The disruption began over an hour ago, with hundreds of users reporting freezes during file uploads and errors on image prompts. OpenAI acknowledged elevated failure rates for the Images API, noting that some files may appear uploaded but remain inaccessible during processing.
Despite deploying mitigation strategies, the company warns that some image requests will still fail. This incident follows a major outage on Thursday that impacted nearly all ChatGPT components, and comes just before the anticipated release of the GPT-6 Astra model.
This recurring instability could erode user trust in AI tools as primary productivity platforms, especially for professionals relying on image generation for creative work. If uploads and image requests remain unreliable, businesses may face workflow delays and increased costs. The timing near a major model launch may also heighten scrutiny on OpenAI's operational readiness, potentially affecting adoption rates among enterprise clients who depend on consistent API performance.