On 10 June 2025, ChatGPT experienced a major global outage. The effects were felt across continents, including in South Africa. Whether you were trying to finish a school project in Cape Town or writing code in Johannesburg, the sudden disappearance of ChatGPT disrupted workflows, learning, and everyday tasks.
Here is a breakdown of what caused the outage, how it affected users in South Africa and worldwide, how OpenAI responded, and what it means for the future of AI tools.
The Start of the Outage
Early on 10 June, users around the world started reporting issues with ChatGPT. According to Downdetector, error reports spiked sharply before sunrise in South African time. Users couldn’t load chats, start new ones, or access the API services.
Error messages included:
- “Something went wrong”
- “Network error occurred”
- Endless loading circles
South African users were not spared. Social media posts from local tech professionals, students, and small businesses echoed the same frustration: ChatGPT was unavailable when they needed it most.
Global Impact, Local Frustration
By mid-morning, the outage had spread worldwide. In Spain, over 90 percent of users reported problems. In India, more than 85 percent of the complaints pointed to the web version.
In South Africa, creators using Sora (OpenAI’s video tool) experienced dropped projects. Students and teachers in online classrooms scrambled for alternatives. Developers relying on ChatGPT’s API to power apps or services had to pause work.
Here in South Africa, reliance on AI tools has grown fast. Many freelancers and startups in Cape Town, Durban, and Pretoria use ChatGPT daily for writing, support, and translation. The outage disrupted business for hours.
OpenAI Responds
OpenAI acknowledged the outage early in the day. They began investigating and posted updates to their status page and social platforms.
By the afternoon, they had identified the issue. A fix was being rolled out across servers. By 4:30 AM Pacific Time, services were back online.
Full recovery took more than 12 hours. This was OpenAI’s longest outage so far. Sora and Voice tools took even longer to return to normal.
What Caused It?
OpenAI has not yet provided a deep technical explanation. Some experts suggest it was a deployment error or infrastructure overload. There were also simultaneous problems on platforms like Heroku and NVIDIA Docs. That points to a possible cloud-based service chain issue.
Until OpenAI confirms more details, the exact cause remains unclear. But the scale of the problem shows how fragile even advanced systems can be.
How South Africans Use ChatGPT
AI adoption is growing across South Africa. ChatGPT has become a go-to for:
- High school and university research
- Content creation for digital marketing
- Code generation and debugging
- Email writing and translation in multiple languages
- Support chat integration for local e-commerce platforms
When the system went down, many people found themselves stuck. Work stalled. Assignments were delayed. Creative flows broke.
Business Disruption
Small businesses and freelancers depend on ChatGPT for daily tasks. In regions where budgets are tight, the free and plus versions of ChatGPT are essential. When it went offline, productivity took a hit.
Some switched to competitors like Gemini or Copilot. Others waited, refreshing the browser and hoping for a fix.
What OpenAI Plans to Do Next
OpenAI has promised to prevent future outages by:
- Expanding infrastructure to support higher traffic loads
- Adding better regional redundancy
- Running more internal stress tests and fault simulations
- Improving communication during outages
They’ve already increased capacity and lowered API prices this year. South African developers using the API for apps and customer services are watching closely to see if reliability improves.
Lessons for South African Users
- Always have a backup tool. If your work depends on ChatGPT, keep alternatives like Copilot or Perplexity bookmarked.
- Offline drafts are useful. If you’re writing or coding, save work locally before editing with AI.
- Stay updated through social media or status pages. Many users in South Africa found out about the outage via Reddit and X.
The Bigger Picture
This outage shows how important ChatGPT has become for both work and education in South Africa. Whether you’re in Bloemfontein or Stellenbosch, chances are someone near you uses it every day.
OpenAI’s recovery response was fast, but it raised concerns. What happens next time? Will users be notified earlier? Will services come back sooner in regions like Africa that often wait longer for infrastructure fixes?
Final Take
AI tools like ChatGPT are here to stay. But this outage highlights a reality: even powerful platforms go offline.
If you rely on ChatGPT in South Africa, consider spreading your workflow across tools. Use local backups. Monitor system status updates. And stay informed about improvements OpenAI is rolling out.
The outage was a hassle. But it was also a reminder. Even with AI, it helps to have a plan B.
