Search engines DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, along with several programs relying on Bing's search engine, are currently experiencing significant issues.
Additionally, services with built-in search capabilities, such as Microsoft Copilot and OpenAI's premium AI offering ChatGPT Plus, are reportedly facing similar problems.
Search Engines Relying on Bing API Still Down
As first reported by TechCrunch, these outages can be traced to an issue with Bing's application programming interface (API). All the aforementioned search services depend on Bing's API to deliver their search results.
In an update on X, Microsoft acknowledged the issue affecting its services and informed the public that they are working to isolate the problem.
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
The company has yet to issue a statement on the cause of the outage or provide an estimated time for when services will be restored.
Microsoft's search engine is functioning correctly at the time of writing, but services like ChatGPT are still investigating the problem. According to its status page, ChatGPT's search capabilities have been down for almost five hours.
Online privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo and the environmentally conscious search engine Ecosia are still displaying error messages. DuckDuckGo users trying to use the service encountered a message stating, "It's not you, it's us."
In a recent post on X, DuckDuckGo issued a statement: "Announcement: We're currently experiencing an issue with DuckDuckGo Search that might prevent you from getting results. Thanks for your patience while we get our ducks in a row."
"The trees are silent. Some of you may not be able to get search results right now, but we will be back up and running soon!," Ecosia said in their announcement.
According to the outage tracker site Downdetector, user reports of problems accessing Bing's online search engine began pouring in around 2 AM ET.
Microsoft Bing search engine in pictured on a monitor in the Bing Experience Lounge during an event introducing a new AI-powered Microsoft Bing and Edge at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington on February 7, 2023. - Microsoft's long-struggling Bing search engine will integrate the powerful capabilities of language-based artificial intelligence, CEO Satya Nadella said, declaring what he called a new era for online search. Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images
Affected Users Share Their Frustrations Online
Despite significantly trailing behind search engine leader Google, Microsoft's Bing has been gaining traction recently with its AI-powered services built on OpenAI's GPT-4 technology.
According to April 2024 search engine market share statistics from StatCounter, Google remains dominant with a 90.91 percent market share, while Bing holds a distant second place with 3.64 percent.
Affected users, some starting their office work shifts, have taken to social media to express their frustration with the outages impacting several search engines.
Forced to use Google, some users have expressed disappointment with the search giant's 'barely relevant' main search results. "I used google and there's like 3 mildy relevant results," one frustrated user said.
Another tech giant experienced a widespread outage across its platforms in March. Meta's platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, experienced a global outage, preventing millions of users from accessing basic features like scrolling, posting, and contacting friends.
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