OpenAI reopens a major-impact incident on ChatGPT image generation, still investigating

Sources: OpenAI incidents API
Summary: An incident titled Image generation unavailable in ChatGPT was created 2026-07-21 10:36 UTC and resolved 2026-07-22 02:50 UTC, then reopened on 2026-07-27. It carries status investigating and impact major, with updates posted at 14:04 UTC and at 16:52 UTC, both stating that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services and that a mitigation is being implemented. No root cause is published. This is the only currently-open item on the OpenAI status page.
Why it matters: The affected surface is named and narrow, so teams calling ChatGPT image generation have a concrete failure to route around, and a reopen after a resolved close indicates the earlier mitigation did not hold.
Follow-up: Watch for a resolved status, and for whether OpenAI links the reopen to the 2026-07-21 incident.