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ChatGPT Outage: OpenAI Servers Crash Amid Viral Ghibli Art Trend – CEO Sam Altman Responds

ChatGPT crashed globally amid a viral surge in Ghibli-style image generation, prompting CEO Sam Altman to plead, ‘Our team needs sleep.’ OpenAI has since introduced rate limits to prevent future outages.

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5 months ago

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On Sunday, March 2025, OpenAI’s ChatGPT servers crashed globally, leaving millions of users frustrated. The outage was triggered by an unprecedented surge in demand for the platform’s new Studio Ghibli-style image generation feature. As users flocked to create AI-generated artworks in the iconic Japanese animation style, the platform’s infrastructure struggled to keep up.

The disruption began on Saturday evening and worsened by Sunday afternoon, with error reports spiking around 4:19 pm (as per Downdetector). Users encountered messages stating:

“You’ve reached the rate limit.”
They were unable to generate images or access other ChatGPT functionalities.

OpenAI’s Response to the Outage

  • OpenAI confirmed that users were experiencing “elevated errors”, and engineers were actively working on a fix.
  • By late Sunday, the company announced that all services had fully recovered.
  • OpenAI also promised to release a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) within five business days to explain the incident in detail.

Ghibli-Style Image Generation – The Cause of the Crash

The primary culprit behind the outage was OpenAI’s new Ghibli-style image generation feature, which allows users to create artworks inspired by Studio Ghibli’s whimsical and ethereal aesthetic.

The feature quickly went viral, flooding social media platforms with AI-generated anime-inspired images, causing a massive spike in usage.
The demand became so intense that OpenAI’s servers were overwhelmed, leading to a complete system crash.

OpenAI Introduces Rate Limits to Control Demand

In response to the overload, OpenAI implemented new rate limits on image generation:

  • Free-tier users: Now limited to three image generations per day (previously unlimited).
  • Paid subscribers (ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and Select): Continue to have unrestricted access.

This measure aims to prevent future outages by reducing GPU load and stabilizing the platform.

Sam Altman’s Humorous Appeal to Users

As the platform struggled under the pressure, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took to X (formerly Twitter) with a humorous plea:

“Can y’all please chill on generating images, this is insane. Our team needs sleep.” 😴

This candid remark highlighted the immense strain on OpenAI’s engineers, who were working around the clock to restore services.

Altman Defends OpenAI Team Amid Criticism

During the outage, a user on X jokingly suggested that OpenAI should fire the team responsible for the image generation feature.

In response, Altman strongly defended his team, saying:

“No thanks. In addition to building AGI, this team is on trajectory to build the biggest website in the world from a cold start 2.33 years ago. Best team in the world.”

His message underscored the team’s achievements and the immense complexity of managing AI infrastructure at scale.

The Growing Challenge of AI Scalability

The ChatGPT outage highlights the growing challenge OpenAI faces as demand for AI-generated content skyrockets.

  • With millions of daily users and increasingly complex features, maintaining server stability is becoming harder.
  • The incident also reflects the massive computational demands required to power large-scale AI models.

As OpenAI continues to push the boundaries of AI innovation, its ability to scale infrastructure and ensure platform stability will be crucial in meeting user expectations.

What’s Next for OpenAI?

The March 2025 outage demonstrates both the overwhelming popularity and the technical challenges of AI platforms. With Ghibli-style image generation becoming a viral sensation, OpenAI now faces the task of expanding its server capacity and optimizing GPU usage to prevent future crashes.

Stay tuned to Cosbom.com for more updates on OpenAI’s latest features and industry news!

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Apple’s “Awe Dropping” Event: iPhone 17 Air and Everything to Expect This Tuesday

Apple’s biggest product launch in years is just 48 hours away, and the iPhone 17 Air could be the most radical iPhone redesign since the iPhone X. Here’s everything we know about Tuesday’s event.

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1 day ago

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September 7, 2025

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Apple’s highly anticipated fall event is scheduled for Tuesday, September 9 at 10 AM PT (10:30 PM IST), promising what could be the company’s biggest product refresh in years.

Concept render of iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air showing their rear designs and camera setups

The iPhone 17 Lineup:

  • iPhone 17 Air: Ultra-thin at just 5.5mm thick, 6.6-inch 120Hz display, A19 chip
  • iPhone 17 Pro: Starting at $1,099 (up $100), 256GB base storage
  • iPhone 17 Pro Max: Redesigned camera system
  • Standard iPhone 17: Expected pricing and specs
  • Major Software Updates:
  • Apple will announce the official release dates for its 2025 software lineup, all numbered with “26” to represent the September 2025-2026 season:
  • iOS 26: Features the new “Liquid Glass” user interface, redesigned Camera app, enhanced ChatGPT integration, improved Apple Intelligence capabilities
  • iPadOS 26: Introduces a completely new windowing system, Preview app for iPad, enhanced Files app with folder customization, Background Tasks for intensive operations
  • macOS Tahoe 26: New features and improvements for Mac users
  • watchOS 26: Updated features for Apple Watch
  • visionOS 26: Updates for Vision Pro headset
  • The iOS 26 public release is expected around September 15-16, with release candidates available immediately after the September 9 event.
watchOS 26
iPadOS 26
macOS 26
iOS 26

Other Expected Launches:

  • Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3
  • AirPods Pro 3 with health tracking
  • Possible Mac updates
iOS 26 Liquid Glass interface on iPhones showing translucent app icons and widgets
Apple Watch Series 11 render displaying time and fitness app with a floral background

Key Dates:

  • Event: September 9, 10 AM PT (10:30 PM IST)
  • Pre-orders: September 12, 5 AM PT
  • iOS 26 Release: September 15-16 (expected)
  • Hardware Release: September 19

The iPhone 17 Air represents Apple’s biggest design shift in years, prioritizing thinness over battery life with only a single rear camera.

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Red Sea Cable Cuts Cripple Microsoft Azure, Disrupt 17% of Global Internet Traffic

Multiple undersea fiber optic cables were cut in the Red Sea, disrupting Microsoft Azure services and slowing internet traffic across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe—affecting nearly 17% of global connectivity.

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1 day ago

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September 7, 2025

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Multiple undersea fiber optic cables in the Red Sea were damaged, causing significant disruptions to Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and affecting internet connectivity across India, Pakistan, UAE, and other regions.

The impact:

  • Microsoft Azure users experiencing increased latency, especially for Asia-Europe traffic routes
  • Nearly 17% of global internet traffic flows through Red Sea cables
  • Key systems affected include SMW4, IMEWE, SEACOM/TGN-EA, AAE-1, and EIG cables
  • Failures occurred near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Microsoft’s response: “Undersea fiber cuts can take time to repair; as such, we will continuously monitor, rebalance, and optimize routing to reduce customer impact in the meantime.”

The broader concern: The Red Sea is one of the world’s most critical internet chokepoints. With ongoing regional conflicts, experts worry critical digital infrastructure could become deliberate targets.

Repair timeline: Subsea cable repairs typically take weeks due to the logistics of mobilizing cable repair ships and securing permits in politically sensitive waters.

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Tesla’s AI5 Chip Breakthrough: Musk Calls It “Epic,” Promises Life-Saving Technology

Elon Musk just announced Tesla completed design review for their AI5 chip and it’s going to be ‘epic’—while simultaneously recruiting engineers to join Tesla’s silicon team to work on ‘life-saving’ chips where ‘milliseconds matter.

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1 day ago

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September 7, 2025

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Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced a major breakthrough today with the company’s AI5 chip design, calling it “epic” and predicting the upcoming AI6 could be “the best AI chip by far”.

In a social media post, Musk revealed: “Just had a great design review today with the Tesla AI5 chip design team! This is going to be an epic chip. And AI6 to follow has a shot at being the best AI chip by far.”

What makes this significant:

  • Tesla is consolidating from two chip architectures to one, focusing all silicon talent on a single incredible chip
  • Musk believes AI5 will be “the best inference chip for models with fewer than 250 billion parameters”
  • The chip offers “the lowest silicon cost and highest performance-to-power ratio”
  • AI6 is expected to advance these capabilities even further

The job recruitment angle: Musk is actively recruiting engineers, emphasizing they’d be working on chips that “save lives” where “milliseconds matter”—clearly referencing Tesla’s autonomous driving ambitions.

This comes after Tesla shut down its Dojo supercomputer project last month, with the company deciding to focus resources on a single chip architecture rather than splitting development.

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