diff --git a/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiApi.java b/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiApi.java
index 7827f034d55..f0d424e29be 100644
--- a/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiApi.java
+++ b/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiApi.java
@@ -16,25 +16,9 @@
 
 package org.springframework.ai.openai.api;
 
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
-import java.util.function.Consumer;
-import java.util.function.Predicate;
-
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonFormat;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonIgnore;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonIgnoreProperties;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonInclude;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.*;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonInclude.Include;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
-import reactor.core.publisher.Flux;
-import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;
-
-import org.springframework.ai.model.ApiKey;
-import org.springframework.ai.model.ChatModelDescription;
-import org.springframework.ai.model.ModelOptionsUtils;
-import org.springframework.ai.model.SimpleApiKey;
+import org.springframework.ai.model.*;
 import org.springframework.ai.openai.api.common.OpenAiApiConstants;
 import org.springframework.ai.retry.RetryUtils;
 import org.springframework.core.ParameterizedTypeReference;
@@ -48,6 +32,14 @@
 import org.springframework.web.client.ResponseErrorHandler;
 import org.springframework.web.client.RestClient;
 import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.client.WebClient;
+import reactor.core.publisher.Flux;
+import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import java.util.function.Consumer;
+import java.util.function.Predicate;
 
 /**
  * Single class implementation of the
@@ -200,7 +192,10 @@ public OpenAiApi(String baseUrl, ApiKey apiKey, MultiValueMap<String, String> he
 		this.embeddingsPath = embeddingsPath;
 		// @formatter:off
 		Consumer<HttpHeaders> finalHeaders = h -> {
-			h.setBearerAuth(apiKey.getValue());
+			if(!(apiKey instanceof NoopApiKey)) {
+				h.setBearerAuth(apiKey.getValue());
+			}
+
 			h.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);
 			h.addAll(headers);
 		};
diff --git a/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiAudioApi.java b/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiAudioApi.java
index 1f4ca2a590d..b68f1f63762 100644
--- a/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiAudioApi.java
+++ b/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiAudioApi.java
@@ -72,7 +72,14 @@ public OpenAiAudioApi(String openAiToken) {
 	public OpenAiAudioApi(String baseUrl, String openAiToken, RestClient.Builder restClientBuilder,
 			ResponseErrorHandler responseErrorHandler) {
 
-		Consumer<HttpHeaders> authHeaders = h -> h.setBearerAuth(openAiToken);
+		Consumer<HttpHeaders> authHeaders;
+		if (openAiToken != null && !openAiToken.isEmpty()) {
+			authHeaders = h -> h.setBearerAuth(openAiToken);
+		}
+		else {
+			authHeaders = h -> {
+			};
+		}
 
 		this.restClient = restClientBuilder.baseUrl(baseUrl)
 			.defaultHeaders(authHeaders)
@@ -111,7 +118,9 @@ public OpenAiAudioApi(String baseUrl, String apiKey, MultiValueMap<String, Strin
 			ResponseErrorHandler responseErrorHandler) {
 
 		Consumer<HttpHeaders> authHeaders = h -> {
-			h.setBearerAuth(apiKey);
+			if (apiKey != null && !apiKey.isEmpty()) {
+				h.setBearerAuth(apiKey);
+			}
 			h.addAll(headers);
 			// h.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);
 		};
@@ -135,7 +144,7 @@ public ResponseEntity<byte[]> createSpeech(SpeechRequest requestBody) {
 
 	/**
 	 * Streams audio generated from the input text.
-	 *
+	 * <p>
 	 * This method sends a POST request to the OpenAI API to generate audio from the
 	 * provided text. The audio is streamed back as a Flux of ResponseEntity objects, each
 	 * containing a byte array of the audio data.
diff --git a/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiImageApi.java b/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiImageApi.java
index bfb846c0510..06f071a1b52 100644
--- a/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiImageApi.java
+++ b/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiImageApi.java
@@ -87,7 +87,9 @@ public OpenAiImageApi(String baseUrl, String apiKey, MultiValueMap<String, Strin
 		// @formatter:off
 		this.restClient = restClientBuilder.baseUrl(baseUrl)
 			.defaultHeaders(h -> {
-				h.setBearerAuth(apiKey);
+				if(apiKey != null && !apiKey.isEmpty()) {
+					h.setBearerAuth(apiKey);
+				}
 				h.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);
 				h.addAll(headers);
 			})
diff --git a/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiModerationApi.java b/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiModerationApi.java
index f4522dc0eab..9496df68763 100644
--- a/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiModerationApi.java
+++ b/models/spring-ai-openai/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/openai/api/OpenAiModerationApi.java
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationFeature;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
-
 import org.springframework.ai.retry.RetryUtils;
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
 import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
@@ -59,7 +58,9 @@ public OpenAiModerationApi(String baseUrl, String openAiToken, RestClient.Builde
 		this.objectMapper = new ObjectMapper().configure(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES, false);
 
 		this.restClient = restClientBuilder.baseUrl(baseUrl).defaultHeaders(h -> {
-			h.setBearerAuth(openAiToken);
+			if (openAiToken != null && !openAiToken.isEmpty()) {
+				h.setBearerAuth(openAiToken);
+			}
 			h.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);
 		}).defaultStatusHandler(responseErrorHandler).build();
 	}
diff --git a/spring-ai-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/model/NoopApiKey.java b/spring-ai-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/model/NoopApiKey.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2b891813ba2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-ai-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/model/NoopApiKey.java
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+package org.springframework.ai.model;
+
+/**
+ * This implementation of ApiKey indicates that no API key should be used, e.g. no HTTP
+ * headers should be set.
+ */
+public class NoopApiKey implements ApiKey {
+
+	@Override
+	public String getValue() {
+		return "";
+	}
+
+}