diff --git a/swirl/openai/openai.py b/swirl/openai/openai.py
index 58d3910f0..a78e537be 100644
--- a/swirl/openai/openai.py
+++ b/swirl/openai/openai.py
@@ -59,7 +59,8 @@ def _init_openai_client(self, provider, key):
                 ai_client = OpenAI(api_key=key)
             elif provider == "AZUREAI":
                 from openai import AzureOpenAI
-                ai_client = AzureOpenAI(api_key=key, azure_endpoint=self._azure_endpoint, api_version="2023-10-01-preview")
+                self._azure_api_version = getattr(settings, "AZURE_API_VERSION", None)
+                ai_client = AzureOpenAI(api_key=key, azure_endpoint=self._azure_endpoint, api_version=self._azure_api_version)
             else:
                 raise NotImplementedError(f"Unknown AI provider {provider}. Client initialization not supported.")
         except Exception as err:
diff --git a/swirl_server/settings.py b/swirl_server/settings.py
index 2a3ed6c7e..1b75cb352 100644
--- a/swirl_server/settings.py
+++ b/swirl_server/settings.py
@@ -295,6 +295,7 @@
 AZURE_OPENAI_KEY = env.get_value('AZURE_OPENAI_KEY', default='')
 AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT = env.get_value('AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT', default='')
 AZURE_MODEL = env.get_value('AZURE_MODEL', default='')
+AZURE_API_VERSION = os.getenv("AZURE_API_VERSION", default='') 
 
 # Defines for RAG ChatGPT models
 CGPT_MODEL_3 = "gpt-3.5-turbo"