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AI Business & IndustryArs Technica AIPublished: Sep 4, 2026, 06:01 JST2 min read

Four AI models hit by rare simultaneous outages

Four AI models hit by rare simultaneous outages

Key takeaway

  • Four major AI providers suffered outages on Thursday morning.

  • OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Google all reported issues.

  • Most were resolved by midday, but Grok still had problems.

3 Key Points

  1. What happened

    OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Google all suffered significant service interruptions on Thursday morning. Anthropic reported errors on Claude models, OpenAI had issues with ChatGPT and Codex, and xAI's Grok displayed an error message.

  2. Why it matters

    This rare overlapping downtime affected multiple major AI platforms at once, disrupting users who rely on them for work and daily tasks. Anthropic resolved its issue by 12:16 pm, and OpenAI was resolved by 12:55 pm.

  3. What to watch

    As of this writing, xAI's Grok was still experiencing issues. User-reported problems for Grok on DownDetector spiked from under 10 at 9 am to 1,365 by 9:45 am, then fell to 273.

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Context & Analysis

The simultaneous downtime across multiple AI providers on Thursday morning was notable for its rarity and overlap. Anthropic detected the issue early and deployed a fix within hours, while OpenAI marked its problem resolved about two hours after it began. xAI's Grok appeared to be the most affected, with user reports spiking sharply before 9:45 am and still showing elevated numbers as of this writing.

The incidents highlight the operational fragility of cloud-based AI services. For businesses that depend on these tools, even a few hours of disruption can impact workflows. The fact that several major providers failed around the same time suggests potential shared infrastructure dependencies or external factors, though the article does not specify causes. As AI becomes more integral to daily operations, such outages may prompt companies to consider fallback options. However, these events appear isolated and were resolved relatively quickly for most services.

FAQ

Which services were affected?
Affected services included Anthropic's Claude models, OpenAI's ChatGPT and Codex, and xAI's Grok. Google's AI models also experienced interruptions.
When did the outages occur and were they resolved?
The outages began around 9:23 am Eastern and were mostly resolved by 12:55 pm. Anthropic's issue was resolved by 12:16 pm, OpenAI's by 12:55 pm, and Grok was still working to restore service as of this writing.
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