That “Hmm… something seems to have gone wrong” (or cut‑off “hmm something we…”) message is a generic ChatGPT error, not something you caused. It usually means the model or service failed to complete your request cleanly, even though your prompt was fine.

What that message actually means

In most cases it indicates one of these behind‑the‑scenes issues:

  • Temporary server hiccup or overload.
  • Network / connection problem between you and the service.
  • Very long chat history or long/complex prompt causing internal limits to be hit.
  • A bug affecting a specific model (people often report it happening only on GPT‑4 while GPT‑3.5 still works).

The “hmm…” wording is just a friendly front‑end wrapper for: “The system ran into an error while generating your answer.”

Quick fixes you can try

People who run into this a lot generally have success with:

  1. Regenerate carefully
    • Click Regenerate once.
    • If it keeps failing, stop the response early, then try a shorter or slightly rephrased prompt.
  1. Shorten context
    • Start a new chat if the current thread is extremely long.
 * Trim down pasted text or break your task into smaller chunks.
  1. Check your connection & browser/app
    • Refresh the page or restart the app.
 * Try another browser or device.
 * Clear browser cache/cookies if you’re using the web version.
  1. Wait and switch models
    • If it only happens on one model (for example GPT‑4), briefly switch to another (like 3.5) and see if it works.
 * If many users are having the issue at the same time, it’s likely a temporary server‑side problem and waiting a bit often resolves it.

Why it feels random

You can enter the same prompt twice, get the error once, then get a normal answer the next time. That’s because the error is usually tied to:

  • Momentary server load at that exact second.
  • Slightly different internal generation paths.
  • Edge‑case bugs that only show up intermittently.

So if your chat shows “hmm something we…” and stops, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t understand you; it just failed to finish the answer and bailed out.

Mini example

Imagine you ask:

“Write a 1,500‑word story and also analyze it line by line.”

That’s long and complex, and if the system is under load or hits a length limit, it might throw “Hmm… something seems to have gone wrong.”

If you instead split it into:

  1. “Write the 1,500‑word story.”
  2. “Now analyze the first 5 paragraphs line by line.”

it’s much less likely to trigger the error.

TL;DR: That “hmm something went wrong” message is a generic error, usually caused by server, network, or length/complexity issues, not by anything you did wrong. Try regenerating, shortening the chat or prompt, refreshing/clearing cache, or switching models and waiting a bit.