diff --git a/litellm/main.py b/litellm/main.py
index a0b233861..4886744d0 100644
--- a/litellm/main.py
+++ b/litellm/main.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ from litellm.utils import (
     CustomStreamWrapper,
     read_config_args,
     completion_with_fallbacks,
+    verify_access_key,
     get_llm_provider
 )
 from .llms import anthropic
diff --git a/litellm/tests/test_verify_openai_key.py b/litellm/tests/test_verify_openai_key.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e671641ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/litellm/tests/test_verify_openai_key.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+from litellm import verify_access_key
+import os
+
+def test_bad_key():
+    key = "bad-key"
+    response = verify_access_key(key)
+    if response == False:
+        pass
+    else:
+        raise Exception("Bad key was not detected")
+test_bad_key()
+
+def test_good_key():
+    key = os.environ['OPENAI_API_KEY']
+    response = verify_access_key(key)
+    if response == True:
+        pass
+    else:
+        raise Exception("Good key did not pass")
+test_good_key()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/litellm/utils.py b/litellm/utils.py
index 4932d9d69..83c0e05f9 100644
--- a/litellm/utils.py
+++ b/litellm/utils.py
@@ -2604,6 +2604,22 @@ def trim_messages(
         return messages
 
 
+
+# Verify that the user has passed in a valid and active api key
+def verify_access_key(access_key:str):
+    openai.api_key = access_key
+    try:
+        test_response = openai.ChatCompletion.create(
+            model="gpt-3.5-turbo",
+            messages=[
+                {"role": "user", "content": "test"},
+            ],
+            max_tokens = 10
+        )
+        return True
+    except:
+        return False
+
 # this helper reads the .env and returns a list of supported llms for user
 def get_valid_models():
     try:
@@ -2632,4 +2648,4 @@ def get_valid_models():
                 valid_models.extend(models_for_provider)
         return valid_models
     except:
-        return [] # NON-Blocking
\ No newline at end of file
+        return [] # NON-Blocking