"We're continuing to investigate elevated errors affecting image generation in ChatGPT and the Images API"
OpenAI confirmed an ongoing incident that is producing failures in ChatGPT's image generation capabilities and in the Images API. "We saw an increase in failed Images API requests after our last update," the company said, acknowledging a spike in errors tied to a recent internal change. The issue was first flagged publicly when OpenAI confirmed problems affecting image generation and the Images API more than an hour ago.
User-facing failures: uploads hang, images fail
The disruption shows up in two visible ways for users. According to hundreds of reports collected on outage tracker DownDetector, ChatGPT "hangs and freezes" when users attempt to upload files, and "displays errors" when users submit image-generation prompts. That volume of user reports is what pushed the incident into wider visibility and prompted the company's public updates.
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See what we buildFile-upload processing: partial receipts and unavailable files
OpenAI's status messages make a distinct point about uploads: "We're continuing to investigate file-upload processing failures and delays in ChatGPT. Some files may appear uploaded but remain unavailable while processing; other uploads may fail." In other words, users can receive feedback that a transfer completed while backend processing has not finished or has failed outright. Those processing delays are part of the same incident affecting image requests.
Mitigations applied, but errors persist
Forty minutes after the company posted earlier updates, it reported that mitigation steps were under way but that the problem had not been fully resolved. "We're applying mitigations and assessing their effect. Some image requests may still fail. We'll share another update as we learn more," OpenAI wrote, indicating an active troubleshooting cycle in which partial fixes are being assessed in real time. The company also noted that the increase in failed Images API requests occurred "after our last update," connecting the uptick in errors to recent changes in the system.
Recent outage history and the timing around GPT-6 Astra
This incident is the latest in a run of availability problems OpenAI has acknowledged publicly. Last month the company addressed an outage that prevented users across multiple subscription plans from starting or continuing tasks. More recently, on Thursday, OpenAI confirmed a major outage affecting ChatGPT and Codex after widespread reports of errors that touched "nearly every major ChatGPT component." The current image-generation failures and upload problems come ahead of the expected launch of the company's next major model, GPT-6 Astra, which OpenAI revealed in early August and claims it can "identify and develop functional zero-day exploits of all severity levels."
How technologists, end users, and procurement leaders are likely to respond
- Technologists and security teams will be watching Images API error rates and the effects of the applied mitigations, given OpenAI's own linkage of the errors to a recent update.
- End users encountering hangs and failed image prompts will be monitoring whether files that appear uploaded become available after processing or remain inaccessible, and will likely defer image-heavy workflows until stability returns.
- Affected enterprises and procurement leaders will register the sequence of incidents—including last month’s outage, the Thursday disruption that hit ChatGPT and Codex, and this image-generation problem—when assessing operational risk and platform continuity ahead of GPT-6 Astra’s expected launch.
The immediate facts are straightforward: users report upload hangs and image-generation errors; OpenAI confirms elevated image and Images API errors, links an uptick to a recent update, and has applied mitigations that are still being evaluated. What remains to be seen, and what many users will watch closely, is whether the mitigations fully restore file processing and image-generation reliability before the company moves forward with major product milestones announced earlier this year.
