microsoft/semantic-kernel · error · ServiceInitializationError

Failed to create OpenAI settings.

Error message

Failed to create OpenAI settings.

What it means

Raised in OpenAITextToImage.__init__ when the OpenAISettings pydantic model fails validation. The real pydantic ValidationError is chained on __cause__ with the failing fields. All OpenAISettings fields are Optional, so this wrapper is hit only on an actual validation error, not a missing model id.

Source

Thrown at python/semantic_kernel/connectors/ai/open_ai/services/open_ai_text_to_image.py:58

            org_id: The optional org ID to use. If provided will override,
                the env vars or .env file value.
            default_headers: The default headers mapping of string keys to
                string values for HTTP requests. (Optional)
            async_client: An existing client to use. (Optional)
            env_file_path: Use the environment settings file as
                a fallback to environment variables. (Optional)
            env_file_encoding: The encoding of the environment settings file. (Optional)
        """
        try:
            openai_settings = OpenAISettings(
                api_key=api_key,
                org_id=org_id,
                text_to_image_model_id=ai_model_id,
                env_file_path=env_file_path,
                env_file_encoding=env_file_encoding,
            )
        except ValidationError as ex:
            raise ServiceInitializationError("Failed to create OpenAI settings.", ex) from ex
        if not openai_settings.text_to_image_model_id:
            raise ServiceInitializationError("The OpenAI text to image model ID is required.")
        super().__init__(
            ai_model_id=openai_settings.text_to_image_model_id,
            api_key=openai_settings.api_key.get_secret_value() if openai_settings.api_key else None,
            ai_model_type=OpenAIModelTypes.TEXT_TO_IMAGE,
            org_id=openai_settings.org_id,
            service_id=service_id,
            default_headers=default_headers,
            client=async_client,
        )

    @classmethod
    def from_dict(cls: type[T_], settings: dict[str, Any]) -> T_:
        """Initialize an Open AI service from a dictionary of settings.

        Args:
            settings: A dictionary of settings for the service.

View on GitHub (pinned to c028a0c7dc)

Solutions

1. Inspect the cause: except ServiceInitializationError as e: print(e.__cause__.errors())
2. Fix .env OPENAI_* syntax and quoting
3. Pass api_key as a str and confirm env_file_encoding
4. Build OpenAISettings(text_to_image_model_id=...) alone to surface the raw error

Example fix

# before
service = OpenAITextToImage(api_key=object())
# raises ServiceInitializationError: Failed to create OpenAI settings.

# after
service = OpenAITextToImage(ai_model_id="dall-e-3", api_key="sk-...")

from semantic_kernel.connectors.ai.open_ai.settings.open_ai_settings import OpenAISettings

try:
    OpenAISettings(api_key=api_key, text_to_image_model_id=ai_model_id)
except Exception as e:
    raise ValueError(f"OpenAISettings invalid: {e}") from e

from pydantic import ValidationError
from semantic_kernel.connectors.ai.open_ai.settings.open_ai_settings import OpenAISettings


def settings_are_valid(**kwargs) -> bool:
    try:
        OpenAISettings(**kwargs)
        return True
    except ValidationError:
        return False

from semantic_kernel.exceptions.service_exceptions import ServiceInitializationError

try:
    service = OpenAITextToImage(api_key=api_key)
except ServiceInitializationError as e:
    fields = e.__cause__.errors() if e.__cause__ is not None else []
    raise RuntimeError(f"OpenAI settings invalid: {fields}") from e

When it happens

Trigger: Constructing OpenAITextToImage with a value pydantic cannot coerce, or an env_file_path whose .env contents fail field validation, or an env var binding rejected by KernelBaseSettings.

Common situations: Broken .env quoting/whitespace; api_key supplied as a non-string; env_file_encoding mismatch; pydantic upgrade that stops auto-coercing.

Related errors

• Failed to create OpenAI settings.
• Failed to create OpenAI settings.
• Failed to create Copilot Studio Agent settings: {exc}
• Failed to create Azure OpenAI settings: {exc}
• Failed to validate Google AI settings: {e}

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/semantic-kernel@c028a0c7dc (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/45d9b1d418477149. Report an issue: GitHub.