ChatGPT outage reignites debate on risks of large AI system failures

In an increasingly artificial intelligence (AI)-driven world, the recent outage of ChatGPT has reignited debates around the growing reliance on AI and, more broadly, on popular tech platforms.

 

As AI becomes an integral part of daily life — powering everything from customer support to content creation — the incident serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of these technologies and the cascading effects their failure can have on global operations.

 

The outage, which impacted ChatGPT, OpenAI’s API, and Sora services, left hundreds of users unable to access critical functions. Although services were eventually restored, the disruption revealed key vulnerabilities in tech infrastructure. Compounding the issue, Meta’s platforms — including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook — also faced outages during the same period, further amplifying concerns about the stability of widely used platforms.

 

 

Despite ChatGPT's popularity, its adoption for critical enterprise applications in India remains limited.

 

According to Downdetector, complaints about the ChatGPT outage peaked at 377 in India, compared to 27,645 in the US. This indicates that the disruption had a relatively smaller impact in India.

 

In contrast, Meta’s outage drew higher complaints from Indian users, with Instagram alone receiving 30,964 reports on Downdetector. This disparity highlights a gap in the adoption of generative AI (GenAI) platforms like ChatGPT in India versus traditional tech platforms. 

 

Anushree Verma, director analyst at Gartner, explains that Indian enterprises are still in the early stages of adopting ChatGPT and GenAI. “Adoption of ChatGPT in India is increasing, but the majority of usage is concentrated in Western countries. While India is a powerhouse of skill and resources, most end applications are being catered to the West,” she said.

 

The outage also raised broader concerns about the dependency on a few large tech companies controlling critical platforms. Verma cautions that this trend is particularly concerning with the rise of GenAI. “Currently, the impact of such outages is limited because GenAI is primarily used for resource and knowledge management. However, with the emergence of agentic AI — capable of independent decision-making — such disruptions could be far more consequential,” she said.

 

Agentic AI refers to systems capable of acting independently and making decisions with minimal human supervision. These AI agents can perform complex tasks across various domains, from customer service to sales and marketing, opening new possibilities for automation.

 

“As adoption grows, outages of agentic AI systems could result in significant economic losses, potentially running into millions or billions of dollars,” she said.

 

Analysts shared that the dependency on AI is only going to increase. Hence, having a diversified strategy is important.

 

Jaydeep Singh, general manager for India at Kaspersky, said, “The recent service disruptions across major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp underscore how deeply digital services are embedded in our daily lives. While such outages can be caused by technical challenges, they also remind us of the critical need for resilient and secure information technology infrastructures, especially as AI-powered services continue to scale globally.”