OpenAI outage on May 4 — 2h 3m disruption
May 4, 08:45 PM → May 4, 10:49 PM · 2h 3m · medium
On May 4, 2026, OpenAI experienced a service disruption, which was detected through user reports. The incident began at approximately 8:45 PM UTC and was fully resolved by 10:49 PM UTC.
Impact
Users reported experiencing issues with OpenAI services during the incident. The most frequently reported problems included slow or unresponsive service, as well as instances where the website appeared to be down. A total of 119 user reports were received, with a peak of 19 reports within a 15-minute period. No specific regional impact was identified.
Top reported issues
- Slow / unresponsive67
- Website down52
Incident timeline
- May 4, 08:45 PM
PulseWatch detected elevated report volume (medium severity)
- May 4, 09:00 PM
Peak of 19 reports in 15 minutes (baseline 1.3)
- May 4, 09:13 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 09:18 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 09:23 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 09:28 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 09:33 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 09:38 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 09:43 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 09:48 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 09:53 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 09:58 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 10:03 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 10:08 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 10:13 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 10:18 PM
Status updated: possible issue
- May 4, 10:38 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 10:43 PM
Status updated: major issue
- May 4, 10:48 PM
Status updated: possible issue
- May 4, 10:49 PM
Report volume returned to baseline — incident resolved
Official updates
- May 4, 08:45 PM
OpenAI status page acknowledged the incident.
View official source