Google has largely resolved the Gemini service disruption that impacted users relying on the AI for work tasks on Wednesday. The company announced full recovery for affected users via its status dashboard by 6 p.m. PT.

Gemini users encountered problems on Wednesday as the AI assistant failed to operate correctly. DownDetector logged more than 1,600 reports of issues during busy work periods. Those reports declined as Google implemented solutions throughout the day.

The exact number of affected Google users remains unclear. The problem was confined to Gemini within Google Workspace, covering Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and the Gemini app. Disruptions hit platforms including MacOS, web, iOS, Gemini in Chrome, and Android. Users saw errors with codes 1099 and 1076, accompanied by the message "Something went wrong."

Cause of the Gemini Disruption per Google

Google offered limited insight into the root cause in its final status update. "From preliminary analysis, the issue was triggered by a performance issue in our backend database which impacted the retrieval of Gemini App tools catalog," the company stated.

In simple terms, a backend problem prevented Gemini from accessing necessary data to perform tasks. Engineers resolved it by balancing the load across the backend database more effectively.

CNET contacted Google for more details on the cause and any steps to avoid future problems but received no immediate reply.

Recovery Signs Emerge Amid Lingering Reports

Google continued to list the disruption as active on its Workspace Status Dashboard, though DownDetector reports had dropped sharply from earlier peaks. The company planned its next update for 8:30 p.m. PT while noting most users were no longer impacted.

Google confirmed that mitigation steps had succeeded for the majority of users. "Our engineering team has applied mitigations to reduce impact and confirmed the majority of users are no longer observing impact," the update read. "We will continue to monitor the service for stability." No cause was identified at that stage.

Additional AI Issues Reported with Claude

Anthropic also noted problems with its Claude AI chatbot on the same day. A status page indicated that issues with the Haiku 4.5 model had been fixed following user reports of malfunctions. The problems were resolved by 10:21 a.m. PT, though the cause was not specified.

Anthropic released its Fable 5 model the previous day. Paid Claude users can access it now, but the company warned that high demand could lead to further access issues soon.

Early Recovery Updates and Platform Details

Google reported signs of recovery at 11:37 a.m. PT as fixes were deployed. Reports to DownDetector decreased steadily after peaking above 1,600 incidents. Given Google's large user base, many individuals likely still faced problems in Workspace apps at that time.

Gemini App Vice President Josh Woodward posted on X that some fixes were already applied, with others imminent. An earlier update at 9:24 a.m. PT confirmed a mitigation was in progress without a specific deployment timeline. Affected platforms included web, MacOS, iOS, Android, and Gemini in Chrome, all showing the "Something went wrong" message.

User Experience and Initial Confirmation

One CNET reporter tested Gemini in Chrome on Mac and encountered immediate failures when attempting to analyze a PDF or perform a web search. Error codes appeared briefly before the chat reset. No workaround existed at the time.

Google first confirmed the scope at 8:10 a.m. PT and scheduled further updates. The issue was classified as a service disruption rather than a full outage, with engineering teams working to identify and address the underlying problem from the start.