How can I resolve the 'openai is not defined' error when using the Assistants API?

The error occurs because you imported only the OpenAI class (using "from openai import OpenAI") instead of the entire openai module. This means that the name "openai" is not available in your namespace, so when you try to set openai.api_key, Python doesn't know what "openai" refers to.

There are two common solutions:

1. Import the openai Module Directly

Change your import statement to import the module so that you can set the API key using the module name:

PYTHONCopied
import openai

openai.api_key = "■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■VqeUz38Y"

client = openai.OpenAI()

run = client.beta.threads.create_and_run(
    assistant_id="asst_IgmpQTah3ZfPHCVZjTqAY8Kv",
    thread={
        "messages": [
            {"role": "user", "content": "Explain deep learning to a 5 year old."}
        ]
    }
)

2. Use the Imported OpenAI Class Consistently

Since you've imported the OpenAI class directly, you can set the API key on that class or include it as part of the initialization if that's supported by the class. For example:

PYTHONCopied
from openai import OpenAI

# If the OpenAI class allows setting the API key during initialization or as a class attribute, do so:
client = OpenAI(api_key="■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■VqeUz38Y")

run = client.beta.threads.create_and_run(
    assistant_id="asst_IgmpQTah3ZfPHCVZjTqAY8Kv",
    thread={
        "messages": [
            {"role": "user", "content": "Explain deep learning to a 5 year old."}
        ]
    }
)

Choose the approach that best fits the documentation and your coding style. The key point is to ensure that the naming is consistent so that "openai" is recognized when you refer to it.