API geo blocked in particular countries?

I just tested an API key from a free account, connected to a VPN in Hong Kong.

It failed.

  1. will the api key give me no free back that I need to pay?

  2. the website is blocked in Hong Kong. Is the api blocked too?

If I pay, will I be blocked from access in certain countries?

Supported countries:

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How come you cannot use a server located in a different country to send the outbound request? This seems more of server your using issue than an OpenAI Issue

Thanks for that link. Sadly, no Hong Kong or China listed.

Hosters will need to bear this in mind. Closest is probably Singapore.

Yes, I am in HK and I am blocked. This has nothing to do with the HK or China government, it is to do with Open AI. Why can’t they just let IP addresses in HK access their services and servers? No point blocking - here really isn’t any advantage. It’s not about being unsupported; it’s intentionally preventing access

I found the API isn’t blocked; only the free web access.
My guess is that they’re trying to reduce how much of a freebie they’re giving away via the web interface.
Need to give them a credit card, and store it in an account with no 2 factor authentication option in settings.

Today I am able to access the API from a HK IP address again.

Before access resumed I got Azure working and found some cheap competitors providing openai api compatible endpoints running open source LLMs such as starcoder. However, there was some compatibility issues and not all software allowed for custom endpoints and custom models.

Still, the blocking was an important reminder of dependencies on a single service.