ChatGPT Experiences Brief Outage for UK Users

LONDON, UK — Hundreds of ChatGPT users reported issues with the OpenAI platform on the afternoon of April 22, 2025, causing frustration for many. Over 500 users in the UK logged complaints, experiencing an “Error in message stream” when attempting to use the service.

The outage seemed to be localized, as independent verification by Tom's Guide confirmed that users in the US were not affected. A spokesperson from OpenAI later addressed the issue, stating, “We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for ChatGPT conversations. We are working on implementing a mitigation.”

By approximately 15:30 BST, it appeared that the issues were resolved, with UK team members testing the platform and confirming that it was operational again. Users reported that the ChatGPT app on smartphones was functioning properly, while desktop and web applications continued to face problems initially.

Despite the quick resolution, the initial outage raised concerns, with many users expressing their frustrations online. One user tweeted, “Every time I’ve tried to write a prompt, I keep getting errors. It’s so annoying!” OpenAI’s status page had also indicated ongoing efforts to fix the problem as they implemented updates.

Meanwhile, publications initially characterized the situation as a global outage, but reports showed that it was affecting only UK users. As of now, ChatGPT’s service appears back to normal, and OpenAI continues to monitor for any potential new issues.