- Microsoft outage disrupted search for ChatGPT, Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia.
- Issues began at 3AM ET due to Bing API problems.
- Services recovered by around 10:30AM ET.
A major Microsoft outage on Thursday disrupted search capabilities for various platforms, including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia. The issues began around 3AM ET, originating from problems with Bing’s API, which these services rely on.
Microsoft’s Bing search engine faced temporary disruptions, but third-party services were more significantly affected. Users of DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, both dependent on Bing’s API, encountered error messages when attempting searches.
ChatGPT’s web browsing feature, available to Plus subscribers, was also impacted. Users saw error messages when trying to perform web searches through the AI chatbot. Microsoft Copilot users experienced a frustrating loading loop, preventing access to the service.
By around 10:30AM ET, services started coming back online. DuckDuckGo and Ecosia reported recovery, and OpenAI confirmed that ChatGPT’s web browsing was restored. Microsoft acknowledged the issues with Copilot and mentioned ongoing mitigation efforts.
We’re broadening our mitigation efforts following signs of partial recovery for https://t.co/5QGpEMg7SR and other features. We’re closely monitoring to determine if further actions are needed to resolve the issue. Further details can be found in the admin center under CP795190.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) May 23, 2024
