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ChatGPT Error 1101 — How to fix it

What is Error Code 1101, and how do you fix it?

Reviewed By: Kevin Pocock

Last Updated on October 31, 2023
ChatGPT error 1101 — Auth0 authentication error code
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What does this error code mean, and how can you fix it? AI Chatbots all experience bugs and glitches from time to time, but it’s not always their fault — or yours! Let’s demystify ChatGPT Error 1101.

What is ChatGPT Error 1101?

If you’re seeing error code 1101, that means that you cannot access ChatGPT. However, this is not an OpenAI server issue. Instead, this is because the login authentication provider Auth0 had an issue which impacts OpenAI’s ability to allow users to log in, or to stay signed in and use their accounts to access ChatGPT.

As a result, the typical advice to clear your browser cache or cookies, reset your internet connection, or use an alternate device won’t fix this problem. Theoretically, ChatGPT is still able to process queries at this time — but that’s not much use if you can’t submit a prompt! Thankfully, you can still submit a prompt via the ChatGPT API, if you have that set up.

This error message is not due to high traffic or any other issue with the performance of ChatGPT itself. That has been largely solved by a rate limit to the maximum number of requests that users can submit. GPT-4 currently has a cap of 50 messages every 3 hours. Excessive users’ queries is the leading cause of error messages in artificial intelligence, but not the cause of this one!

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Instead, it’s due an internal server error at a service provider that many websites rely on, not just OpenAI. Multiple websites will be affected by the same underlying issue, although they don’t all need to refer to it as error 1101.

How to fix error code 1101

As error 1101 is what’s known as a server-side error, and not a client-side error, you cannot fix the problem on your end. This is because no problem exists on your end. Instead, OpenAI are obligated to keep server downtime low and get you back online from their end! In the meantime, here’s what you can do to solve your lack-of AI chatbot problem:

Step

1

Wait

Allow several minutes for the issue to pass. As the issue is not internal at OpenAI, the issue may not be resolved as quickly as one the firm could fix itself.

Step

2

Try an alternate AI Chatbot

If you can’t wait, then the best solution here is to try using a different AI Chatbot, such as Microsoft’s Bing Chat, or Google Bard.

However, as error 1101 will affect more than one site at once (by any other name), it’s possible that other AI Chatbots will also be down at the same time for the same reason.

Try Bing Chat first — as Microsoft’s AI Chatbot uses the same LLM as OpenAI, the results will be near identical, or at least fungible.

Step

3

ChatGPT API

While the public-facing UI known as ChatGPT is down, the underlying technology does not use the same authentication gateway. The GPT-4 LLM (Large Language Model) is still usable at some times that ChatGPT is not. However, most users don’t have access to the ChatGPT API. That said, there are third-party services on the internet that run on GPT-4, and don’t use Auth0, thereby circumventing error code 1101.

Steve is an AI Content Writer for PC Guide, writing about all things artificial intelligence. He currently leads the AI reviews on the website.