Claude down: Thousands report ‘API 500 error’ with Anthropic's AI chatbot

Anthropic’s chatbot Claude faced a U.S. outage Wednesday; over 5,000 users reported API 500 errors, per Down Detector.

Updated on: Feb 26, 2026, 24:16:09 IST

By Shamik Banerjee

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Claude, the AI chatbot of Anthropic AI, is experiencing an outage in the United States on Wednesday afternoon in the United States, according to Down Detector, a platform that tracks such outages based on users' reports. More than 5,000 people have reported receiving “API 500 error” with Claude, the data on the platform showed.

An API 500 error in Claude means the server failed to process a request due to an internal system issue. It means a issue on Claude's server and not on the user's end.

More than 5,000 people reported an outage with Claude. (Down Detector)

45% of the users who reported problems on Down Detector said that they faced issues with Claude chat. 25% faced problems with Claude code and 19% with the Claude app.

Notably, after peaking at over 5000 reports around 1:20pm ET, by 1:40pm ET the number of reports had gone down to around 2,500.

Frustrated Users Vent On Social Media

Many users also vented their frustration on social media.

“Is only my Claude down? Pretty sure that’s Claude telling me to log off and touch some grass,” one user wrote.

“Claude being down for 2 hours and suddenly every “AI engineer” born last Tuesday is in shambles asking the Discord community how to center a div again,” joked one.

“I’ve been waiting for 3 days for my tower to get here….in the middle of installing Ubuntu…Claude goes down,” said another.

“Claude is down. WTH do we do,” said another.

Estimates based on web traffic and user data suggest about 3.2 million U.S. monthly website users visit Claude.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shamik Banerjee
Shamik is a journalist covering the United States for Hindustan Times. He has more than four years of experience reporting on US politics, sports, and major breaking stories across fast-moving cycles. He previously worked at Times Now and Sportskeeda, building strong newsroom instincts and digital storytelling skills. At HT.com, he focuses on day-to-day coverage of US political developments while also handling high-impact stories that demand speed, accuracy, clarity, and context under pressure. Shamik has extensive experience covering NFL game days over the past two years, coordinating live updates, analysis, and explainers. He is particularly drawn to large news moments such as US elections and the Super Bowl, where he thrives at the news desk working alongside the team. He holds degrees in Media Studies from Jamia Millia Islamia and English Literature from Jadavpur University. Before entering journalism, he briefly worked in digital marketing and political consultancy roles. Currently a Senior Content Producer at HT Digital, he is driven by curiosity, discipline, and a constant desire to explore new and obscure topics. Outside work, he enjoys reading, films, sports, and learning continuously.Read More

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