ChatGPT spewed nonsensical answers to users' queries for hours on Tuesday and into Wednesday before eventually returning to its apparent senses.

OpenAI did not explain what went awry with its generative AI tool, considered the one to beat in the technology sector.

"We are investigating reports of unexpected responses from ChatGPT," OpenAI said on its status website when the software seemed to go wacky on Tuesday afternoon.

ChatGPT was giving "peculiar" responses, generating nonexistent words, incomplete sentences and general gobbledygook, developers using the tool said in a discussion forum on the OpenAI website.

"It gives me meaningless words followed by a bizarre list," one developer lamented in the forum.

"It feels as if my GPT is haunted or something has been compromised, either on my end or at OpenAI's [end]."

It wasn't until more than 16 hours had passed that OpenAI updated the page with a message that ChatGPT was operating normally.

OpenAI recently concluded a deal with investors that reportedly valued the startup at US$80 billion or more, after a rollercoaster year for the tech firm.

The agreement, reported by the New York Times but not yet confirmed by OpenAI, would mean the value of the company – a world leader in generative AI – would have nearly tripled in under 10 months.

OpenAI recently released a new tool named "Sora”, which can create realistic videos of up to a minute long via simple user prompts. (AFP)