OpenAI shut down ChatGPT to fix bug exposing user chat titles

OpenAI temporarily shut down its popular ChatGPT service on Monday morning after receiving reports of a bug that allowed some users to see the titles of other users’ chat histories.

An OpenAI spokesperson told Bloomberg that the titles were visible in the user-history sidebar that typically appears on the left side of the ChatGPT webpage. The chatbot was temporarily disabled after the company heard these reports, the spokesperson said. The substance of the other users’ conversations was not visible.

A bug in an unnamed open-source software caused the problem, the spokesperson said. The company is still investigating the precise cause.

ChatGPT came back online Monday night, though users’ chat histories remained missing as of late Monday night Pacific time.

“History is temporarily unavailable,” read a message in the place where a user’s ChatGPT queries and responses typically reside. “We’re working to restore this feature as soon as possible.”

In the statement Monday night, the spokesperson said: “ChatGPT is now back online, and we are working to bring chat history back online as well.” Bloomberg