503RADARINCIDENT ARCHIVEMETHODOLOGY
RESOLVED

OpenAI outage — August 18, 2026

Elevated errors deploying Sites

OpenAI’s Multiple services was disrupted for 5h 46m on August 18, 2026. 503Radar’s sensors raised the first signal at 14:08 UTC, 5h 14m before the official status page acknowledged impact.

Key facts

DetectedAugust 18, 2026 · 14:08 UTC
Confirmed19:23 UTC · lead time 5h 14m
Resolved19:54 UTC
Duration5h 46m
ServiceMultiple services
Official recordhttps://status.openai.com

Timeline

  1. 14:08Z

    Detected · Signal

    1 crowd signal for Multiple services on OPENAI crossed the signal threshold.
  2. 19:23Z

    Confirmed · Official

    An official OPENAI status-page notice corroborated the event — 5h 14m after detection.
  3. 19:54Z

    Resolved

    Signal volume fell back below the threshold; the event was closed.

How this was detected

1 independent evidence class for Multiple services on OPENAI. 3 crowd reports across bluesky, hn_comments (below the anomaly threshold), z=+0.5σ vs the cell baseline. Official notice confirms it, 5h 14m after the crowd.