Why Does LangChain FAISS Embedding with OpenAIEmbeddings Return a 429 Rate Limit Error?

I’m using my free-tier OpenAI API key and it works well for chat completions with this code:

PYTHONCopied
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from openai import OpenAI

load_dotenv()

client = OpenAI()


completion = client.chat.completions.create(
  model="gpt-4o-mini",
  messages=[
    {"role": "system", "content": "You are a poetic assistant"},
    {"role": "user", "content": "Who is Taylor Swift?"}
  ]
)

print(completion.choices[0].message.content)

However, when I try to generate FAISS embeddings with LangChain using the following code:

PYTHONCopied
from langchain_openai import OpenAI
from langchain.text_splitter import RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter
from langchain_community.document_loaders import TextLoader
from langchain_community.vectorstores import FAISS
from langchain_core.vectorstores import VectorStoreRetriever
from langchain_openai import OpenAIEmbeddings
import os

# Ensure API key is set
os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"] = "private"

# Initialize OpenAI API client
openai_client = OpenAI()

# Load and process document
loader = TextLoader("/content/your_name-6.txt")
documents = loader.load()

# Split the documents into chunks
text_splitter = RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter(chunk_size=500, chunk_overlap=0, length_function=len)
docs = text_splitter.split_documents(documents)

# Initialize embeddings using OpenAI
embedding = OpenAIEmbeddings(openai_client=openai_client)

# Create FAISS vector store from the documents
library = FAISS.from_documents(docs, embedding)

I receive the following error message:

PLAINTEXTCopied
RateLimitError: Error code: 429 - {'error': {'message': 'You exceeded your current quota, please check your plan and billing details. For more information on this error, read the docs: [https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/error-codes/api-errors.'](https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/error-codes/api-errors.%27), 'type': 'insufficient_quota', 'param': None, 'code': 'insufficient_quota'}}

Is there a workaround or best practice to avoid running into this rate limit when generating embeddings?

Extra Information:
The sky’s blue color is one of the most captivating natural phenomena, a feature of our world that has inspired awe, poetry, and scientific inquiry for centuries. To understand why the sky is blue, we must delve into the realms of physics, atmospheric science, and human perception. This essay explores the interplay of sunlight, air molecules, and the human eye that gives rise to this beautiful hue.

The Nature of Sunlight

Sunlight, or white light, is composed of a spectrum of colors, each corresponding to a specific wavelength. These colors range from violet, with the shortest wavelengths, to red, which has the longest. When sunlight enters Earth’s atmosphere, it encounters particles and molecules of gases such as nitrogen and oxygen. The interaction of sunlight with these molecules is key to understanding the sky’s color.

Rayleigh Scattering

The primary physical mechanism responsible for the blue sky is Rayleigh scattering, named after the British scientist Lord Rayleigh. This phenomenon occurs when light waves interact with particles much smaller than their wavelength. In the atmosphere, the dominant scatterers are gas molecules.

Rayleigh’s discoveries showed that the intensity of scattered light is inversely proportional to the fourth power of its wavelength. This means shorter wavelengths (blue and violet) scatter much more effectively than longer wavelengths (red and orange). As sunlight travels through the atmosphere, blue and violet light are scattered in all directions, making the sky appear predominantly blue to an observer on the ground.

The Role of Human Perception

Although violet light is scattered even more than blue, the sky does not appear violet. This is due to two factors. First, the Sun emits less violet light than blue. Second, and more importantly, human eyes are less sensitive to violet light. Our retinas contain three types of cone cells, each attuned to different parts of the spectrum. The cones most sensitive to blue wavelengths dominate our perception of the scattered light, making the sky appear blue.

The Influence of Atmospheric Conditions

The specific shade of blue we see can vary depending on atmospheric conditions. When the air contains more particles, such as during a dusty day or after a volcanic eruption, scattering is influenced by Mie scattering, a different phenomenon that affects all wavelengths more equally. This results in a whitish or hazy sky. Similarly, at sunrise and sunset, the Sun’s light travels through a thicker slice of atmosphere. The increased path length causes most of the blue light to scatter out of view, leaving the longer wavelengths—reds and oranges—to dominate.

A Historical Journey of Understanding

The question of why the sky is blue puzzled thinkers for millennia. Ancient Greeks, including Aristotle, speculated that the blue might arise from water vapor or reflections. It was only in the 19th century, with the work of scientists like Lord Rayleigh and John Tyndall, that the true physical explanation began to emerge. Their research laid the foundation for modern atmospheric optics, a field that continues to provide insights into how light interacts with the environment.

Broader Implications and Applications

The blue sky is more than just a visual delight; it has practical implications in fields ranging from astronomy to climate science. Understanding atmospheric scattering helps astronomers correct for distortions in starlight caused by Earth’s atmosphere. It also informs climate scientists about the effects of aerosols and pollution on sunlight distribution, which in turn influences weather patterns and climate models.

Conclusion

The sky’s blue color results from a harmonious interplay of natural phenomena: the scattering of sunlight by atmospheric molecules, the spectral composition of light, and the physiology of human vision. This seemingly simple question—“Why is the sky blue?”—has driven centuries of inquiry, revealing the beauty and complexity of the natural world. It reminds us of the intricate connections between light, matter, and perception that shape our experience of reality. The blue sky, a constant yet ever-changing presence, continues to inspire wonder and curiosity in those who gaze upward.