OpenAI outage: Authentication errors for some users

1. resolvedOct 20, 2026, 17:35 UTC

   On October 20, from 9:35 to 10:35 a.m. PDT, some users near Illinois experienced authentication errors with the API, ChatGPT, and Codex. We rolled back a configuration change, and service was restored.

2. investigatingOct 20, 2026, 16:35 UTC

   Some users near Illinois experienced authentication errors with the API, ChatGPT, and Codex.

What APIStatus.watch saw

Our 5-minute checks didn't record a change in OpenAI's overall status around this incident. Smaller or regional incidents often leave a provider's overall status green.

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How often does OpenAI have incidents?

OpenAI reported 48 incidents in the last 90 days, 9 of them major or critical. A typical incident lasted 1h 21m. See OpenAI's uptime and incident history