There is now a Microsoft outage that seems to be connected to the Bing application programming interface (API), which is causing problems with search functionality for ChatGPT, Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and other platforms. At the time of publication, certain sites and services were either not available at all or were only sometimes responding.
The problems seem to be related to Bing’s API and any services that use it; they started at roughly 3 AM ET. Additionally, it appears that Bing, Microsoft’s own web search engine, was also impacted.
Search results cannot be loaded for other search engines that depend on Bing’s API, such as DuckDuckGo and Ecosia. Similar problems are also being experienced by Microsoft’s Copilot, which keeps customers from using the service by presenting a loading loop. Similar to this, ChatGPT, which enables online searches for Plus subscribers, is displaying an error notice when users try to conduct a search query.
We're investigating an issue where users may be unable to access the Microsoft Copilot service. We're working to isolate the cause of the issue. More information can be found in the admin center under CP795190.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) May 23, 2024
Microsoft has stated that it is “working to isolate the cause of the issue” in response to the loading problems with its Copilot service. As of right now, no additional service interruptions are detected by Microsoft’s service health platform. The search features on both OpenAI’s and Ecosia’s platforms are now having problems, and OpenAI claims it is looking into the matter.