# ChatGPT: Major incident: Image generation unavailable in ChatGPT

**Summary:** ChatGPT image generation was unavailable with elevated errors in an incident rated major, starting 2026-07-21 10:36 UTC and lasting 6 days 8 h. OpenAI reported applying a mitigation and monitoring recovery; the final resolution at 2026-07-27 19:04 UTC stated that all impacted services had fully recovered. _(machine-written, sol)_
- Kind: Major incident · Label: outage (model (Jev))
- Changed: 2026-07-21 10:36 UTC · Detected: 2026-10-17 18:22 UTC
- [Source: https://status.openai.com/incidents/01KY23YCPJ9M5BFFT6ZHKQE9MP](https://status.openai.com/incidents/01KY23YCPJ9M5BFFT6ZHKQE9MP)
- [Company: ChatGPT](https://rewindex.com/company/chatgpt.md)
- Versions: before (none: first archived) → after incident\_version:5/01KY23YCPJ9M5BFFT6ZHKQE9MP@a98488911db7
- Change 1 of 1 for this incident

## What changed

**1. Added: Title**

```diff
+ Image generation unavailable in ChatGPT
```

**2. Added: Impact**

```diff
+ major
```

**3. Added: Status**

```diff
+ resolved
```

**4. Added: Start time**

```diff
+ 2026-07-21 10:36 UTC
```

**5. Added: Resolved time**

```diff
+ 2026-07-27 19:04 UTC
```

**6. Added: Update** (identified) · 2026-07-21 10:36 UTC

```diff
+ We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services. We are working on implementing a mitigation.
```

**7. Added: Update** (monitoring) · 2026-07-21 11:29 UTC

```diff
+ We have applied the mitigation and are monitoring the recovery.
```

**8. Added: Update** (investigating) · 2026-07-21 12:20 UTC

```diff
+ We are investigating the issue for the listed services.
```

**9. Added: Update** (investigating) · 2026-07-21 12:22 UTC

```diff
+ We are investigating the issue for the listed services.
```

**10. Added: Update** (investigating) · 2026-07-21 12:25 UTC

```diff
+ We are investigating the issue for the listed services.
```

**11. Added: Update** (investigating) · 2026-07-21 12:57 UTC

```diff
+ We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services. We are working on implementing a mitigation.
```

**12. Added: Update** (investigating) · 2026-07-21 13:31 UTC

```diff
+ We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services. We are working on implementing a mitigation.
```

**13. Added: Update** (identified) · 2026-07-21 13:38 UTC

```diff
+ We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services. We are working on implementing a mitigation.
```

**14. Added: Update** (identified) · 2026-07-21 14:04 UTC

```diff
+ We are still implementing the mitigation.
```

**15. Added: Update** (monitoring) · 2026-07-21 14:37 UTC

```diff
+ We have applied the mitigation and are monitoring the recovery.
```

**16. Added: Update** (monitoring) · 2026-07-21 15:15 UTC

```diff
+ We have applied the mitigation and are monitoring the recovery.
```

**17. Added: Update** (resolved) · 2026-07-22 02:50 UTC

```diff
+ All impacted services have now fully recovered.
```

**18. Added: Update** (investigating) · 2026-07-27 14:04 UTC

```diff
+ We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services. We are working on implementing a mitigation.
```

**19. Added: Update** (investigating) · 2026-07-27 16:52 UTC

```diff
+ We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services. We are working on implementing a mitigation.
```

**20. Added: Update** (resolved) · 2026-07-27 19:04 UTC

```diff
+ All impacted services have now fully recovered.
```

## History of this incident

| When (UTC) | Change | Label |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-07-21 10:36 UTC | Major incident: Image generation unavailable in ChatGPT (this change) | outage |

All ChatGPT changes: [timeline](https://rewindex.com/company/chatgpt/changes.md)
_Diff excerpts are shown on normalized text: dates, counters and tokens appear as ‹date›, ‹count›, ‹tok›; noise-only edits are hidden. Rewindex shows the changed passages, not a copy of the page._


---
Canonical: https://rewindex.com/change/iedc86e01226c8d · Markdown: https://rewindex.com/change/iedc86e01226c8d.md · JSON: https://rewindex.com/api/v1/changes/iedc86e01226c8d · Generated 2026-10-18T02:28:08.635Z