Calvin Wankhede/Android Authority
In just a few months, ChatGPT has grown into a must-have tool. But whether you’re trying to use it for research or trying to overcome writer’s block, you might find that the service doesn’t always work as expected. Specifically, ChatGPT may respond with an internal server error message instead of a response to your prompt. In this article, let’s break down what causes this error message and what you can do to fix it.
QUICK RESPONSE
When ChatGPT displays an internal server error message, it usually indicates a service-side issue. You can either try accessing ChatGPT at a different time or try one of the solutions below if the problem is yours.
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Why is ChatGPT showing “Internal Server Error”?
Calvin Wankhede/Android Authority
There are a few reasons why ChatGPT might show an internal server error message, starting with a real server-side issue. This can happen if the service temporarily runs out of computing capacity.
If you’re wondering why, it’s probably because of how quickly ChatGPT has become one of the most popular sites on the web. Scaling to meet the demands of millions of concurrent users would be difficult for any organization. Although OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has been working to handle the increased load, you may still find that the chatbot is overwhelmed from time to time.
With millions of visitors, ChatGPT can sometimes run out of network or computing capacity.
You can check the OpenAI status page to see if ChatGPT is currently unavailable or experiencing a slowdown. Alternatively, other users usually report problems on third-party websites like Downdetector. Most outages last a few hours, so just check back later.
If the status page says “All systems are up,” then the issue is not with ChatGPT or OpenAI. Here are some fixes you can try to fix the error yourself.
How can I work around ChatGPT being busy?
The message indicates that ChatGPT is currently experiencing high demand. Try again later or subscribe to ChatGPT Plus, which gives you priority access to the chatbot.
How to Fix “Internal Server Error” on ChatGPT
There are a few reasons why ChatGPT might show you the Internal Server error message, ranging from an expired login to rate limits. Here are some solutions you can try:
Refresh the page and check your internet connection
To combat large-scale abuse of ChatGPT, OpenAI performs a verification step to ensure you are human before using the service. However, this validation expires after a while, so you should refresh the page to allow it to run again. You should see the message “Please wait, we’re checking your browser” for a few moments.
If the page fails to load, this could indicate a problem with your internet connection or misconfigured software. Try accessing ChatGPT from a different browser or computer and use a different Wi-Fi network.
Sign in to your account again
If simply refreshing the page doesn’t work, it may be an expired login session. As you may already know, using ChatGPT requires an OpenAI account. If it has been a while since you last logged in, your session may have expired. Simply log out of your account and log back in.
Check rate limits
If you use ChatGPT frequently, you may have encountered OpenAI’s rate limit. In short, free accounts can only request a few responses per hour, although daily and monthly limits may also apply. The hourly limit is based on the length of the chatbot’s responses, so you’re more likely to hit it if you generate multiple paragraphs of text.
Once you hit the rate limit, you have no choice but to wait for the counter to reset. In the meantime, you cannot generate new replies.
You may also find that your account rate is limited if other computers on your network have recently used ChatGPT. This is unlikely if you use your own internet connection. However, shared Wi-Fi networks and VPN connections can also trigger rate caps, so ditch the latter if you’re using one.
Hopefully one of the above fixes will help you bypass the ChatGPT internal server error message. If you often wait for the chatbot to become available, consider subscribing to ChatGPT Plus. It grants access to the chatbot during times of high demand and also increases the responsiveness of the chatbot.
If none of these solutions work for you, you should use one of the many ChatGPT alternatives currently available. Most of them are based on the same GPT-3 language model, so you can expect similar output quality.
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