Claude, the AI chatbot made by Anthropic, has stopped working.
Visitors saw an error message indicating that the system had broken but that Anthropic was working to restore it.
“Claude will return soon,” an error message read. “Claude is currently experiencing a temporary service disruption. We're working on it, please check back soon.”
It pointed users to an error page that indicated that that there was an error with the webpage that Claude is accessed through. The problem had been identified and was being fixed it said.
The Claude API, which allows other websites to integrate with the chatbot, is still working as expected, it said.
Tracking website Down Detector registered a major outage at around noon in the UK, or 4am on the west coast of the US. The problem was affecting users across the world, Down Detector indicated.
The outage comes at a high-profile time for Claude, and for Anthropic. The company has been at the heart of a dispute with the US Department of Defense, which has been pressuring Anthropic to allow it to have unrestricted access to Claude to help with military missions.
Anthropic has refused that access, arguing that it is unethical. OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, has been less resistant, and said that it was providing AI help to the US military.
