ImportError: cannot import name 'OpenAI' from 'openai'

[jdragonx]

Confirm this is an issue with the Python library and not an underlying OpenAI API

• This is an issue with the Python library

Describe the bug

Exactly this:

ImportError: cannot import name 'OpenAI' from 'openai'

Seems like is just a silly mistake that you didn't notice you had removed such an important part of the package, I had to pin my version to 1.7.1 to avoid this.

To Reproduce

Just update to the latest version (1.7.2) and then try to import using the examples described in the documentation.

Code snippets

No response

OS

Ubuntu

Python version

Python v3.10.12

Library version

openai v1.7.2

[rattrayalex]

Hmm, I can't reproduce this:

Python 3.9.18 (main, Oct  2 2023, 20:16:14) 
[Clang 16.0.3 ] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import openai
>>> openai.version.VERSION
'1.7.2'
>>> from openai import OpenAI
>>> OpenAI
<class 'openai.OpenAI'>

Can you try reinstalling 1.7.2 and try again? If you run into an error again, can you share your code and the full traceback?

[mepc36]

I had the same problem as OP. It turned out to be a problem with my own management of python version and packages.

When I checked the version of openai with this command, I was on a very, very old version. I was on 0.23. I was also running 2 different versions of python: 3.10.8 when I checked the version of which python3, but 3.10.6 when I checked the version of which python. This is just another reminder to be very careful when managing multiple versions of techs!

Here is how you fix the problem:

1. Uninstall all versions of openai:

python3 -m pip uninstall openai

Docs on pip uninstall command:
https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/cli/pip_uninstall/

2. Install the latest version of openai:

python3 -m pip install openai==1.23.6

Always make sure you append the python3 -m pip ... prefix. This will prevent you from installing packages on versions of python that you aren't actually usually.

Also, it's usually a good idea to peg your version number, just to make the debugging process easier.

Check here for the latest version:
https://github.com/openai/openai-python/releases

If you want a more global, automated solution, try running this code inside a conda env:
https://conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/getting-started.html