ChatGPT is currently experiencing a service outage, affecting some of its 190.6m daily users.

The status page for the artificial intelligence chatbot on maker OpenAI's website states that ChatGPT is not displaying responses and that the company is investigating the issues.

"We’re currently experiencing issues," the text reads.

"ChatGPT Not Displaying Responses.

"We are investigating the issue for the listed services."

Indeed, when BusinessPlus.ie asked ChatGPT who the declared candidates for the upcoming Irish presidential election are, it failed to provide a response.

The website DownDetector, which monitors outages of high-traffic internet services, has noted a surge in reports of ChatGPT outages since around 8am this morning.

Research commissioned last year by SAS found that ChatGPT is the tool most often used by the 29% of Irish people who use generative AI in their professional lives.

Additionally, research released this week by Ibec found that 40% of employers use AI for workplace tasks compared to 19% this time last year.

Four in five respondents (80%) said AI is improving productivity, while75% said it allows them to focus more on other aspects of their role, and 81% said they could make better use of AI with additional training.

The research also shows that 27% of respondents had not received formal training, while 65% (up from 54% in 2024) said they likely or very likely will need more AI training.

OpenAI said earlier today that it would introduce parental controls to ChatGPT after the parents of a teenage boy said the chatbot encouraged him to kill himself.

"Within the next month, parents will be able to... link their account with their teen's account" and "control how ChatGPT responds to their teen with age-appropriate model behavior rules", the OpenAI said in a blog post.

Parents will also receive notifications from ChatGPT "when the system detects their teen is in a moment of acute distress", OpenAI added.

(Pic: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)