Getting an OpenAI API Key
Learn how to obtain an API key for OpenAI in this video lesson. Tom guides you through the process of signing up on the OpenAI homepage and accessing the API keys from the dashboard. You'll also discover how the API key is initially shown and then obscured for security purposes.
The importance of keeping the API key confidential is emphasized. Additionally, the instructor discusses available free credit for new sign-ups and highlights the pay-as-you-go model after the free credit expires. This detailed tutorial ensures you have all the necessary information to obtain and manage your API key effectively.
[00:00] Let's get our hands on an OpenAI API key, and that means signing up. So why don't you head over to the OpenAI homepage, and this slide is actually a clickable link, so if you just click on this screenshot, it will take you straight there.
[00:16] Now when you're there, just pause for a moment to check out some of these really beautiful images that they've created with their DALI image generation model, and we will be looking at image generation later in this course. Now once you've feasted your eyes on the pictures, head over to where it says API,
[00:33] and from there you'll need to go to sign up, and then you can choose your sign up method, and you'll need to confirm with a phone number. Now once you're in, from the dashboard you can click your avatar up here and select view API keys. Now they only show you the API key once, when it's first generated.
[00:52] After that, it will be obscured like this, so be sure to copy and paste it somewhere safe as soon as you get it, but if you lose it, don't worry, from here you can actually delete it and get a new one. And like all API keys, be sure to keep it secret. In this project we're building, you will see my API key,
[01:10] but rest assured that by the time this recording goes public, I will have deleted it. Okay, so that's the API key. Now while we're here, let's just say a quick word about credit. If we click on the usage here, it will take us through to a page where we can see how much credit we've got remaining.
[01:28] Now at the time of recording, when you sign up, you get some free credit to play with. I got $18 of credit, which was valid for three months, and it actually looks like I'm nearly through that, but I have been a heavy user, so you'll probably find that the free credit you get will get you a very long way.
[01:47] Now when that credit has expired or been used up, it is a pay-as-you-go model. Check the website for the latest info on that. Okay, now let's take our API key and build our first request. When you're ready for that, let's move on.