diff --git a/recipes/natural_language_processing/chatbot/app/chatbot_ui.py b/recipes/natural_language_processing/chatbot/app/chatbot_ui.py
index 0c233ccb..40f52b05 100644
--- a/recipes/natural_language_processing/chatbot/app/chatbot_ui.py
+++ b/recipes/natural_language_processing/chatbot/app/chatbot_ui.py
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ def memory():
             options=models)
 
 llm = ChatOpenAI(base_url=model_service, 
-        api_key="sk-no-key-required",
+        api_key="sk-no-key-required" if model_service_bearer is None else model_service_bearer,
         model=model_name,
         streaming=True,
         callbacks=[StreamlitCallbackHandler(st.empty(),
diff --git a/recipes/natural_language_processing/codegen/app/codegen-app.py b/recipes/natural_language_processing/codegen/app/codegen-app.py
index f1c02d25..b821edf8 100644
--- a/recipes/natural_language_processing/codegen/app/codegen-app.py
+++ b/recipes/natural_language_processing/codegen/app/codegen-app.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def checking_model_service():
 
 llm = ChatOpenAI(base_url=model_service,
                  model=model_name,
-                 api_key="EMPTY",
+                 api_key="EMPTY" if model_service_bearer is None else model_service_bearer,
                  streaming=True)
 
 # Define the Langchain chain