diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6374bb9..98f2576 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,10 +13,13 @@ https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/51526347/230061897-b3479405-8ebd-45ab-
 EVAL Making a UI for itself
 
 #### [EVAL-BOT](https://github.com/eval-bot)
+
 EVAL's self-managed github account. EVAL does everything except for signup and bio setting.
 
 ### Examples
+
 [Here](examples/) is an example.
+
 ### EVAL's FEATURE
 
 1. **Multimodal Conversation**
@@ -81,6 +84,7 @@ Each optional env has default value, so you don't need to set unless you want to
 - `SERVER` - server address (default: http://localhost:8000)
 - `LOG_LEVEL` - INFO | DEBUG (default: INFO)
 - `BOT_NAME` - give it a name! (default: Orca)
+- `MODEL_NAME` - model name for GPT (default: gpt-4)
 
 **For More Tools**
 
diff --git a/core/agents/builder.py b/core/agents/builder.py
index cf7c5fc..1f45aee 100644
--- a/core/agents/builder.py
+++ b/core/agents/builder.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ class AgentBuilder:
 
     def build_llm(self):
         self.llm = ChatOpenAI(temperature=0)
+        self.llm.check_access()
 
     def build_parser(self):
         self.parser = EvalOutputParser()
diff --git a/core/agents/llm.py b/core/agents/llm.py
index 040c1a0..1fd6ab1 100644
--- a/core/agents/llm.py
+++ b/core/agents/llm.py
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import logging
 import sys
 from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, List, Mapping, Optional, Tuple
 
+import openai
+
 from langchain.chat_models.base import BaseChatModel
 from langchain.schema import (
     AIMessage,
@@ -26,6 +28,9 @@ from tenacity import (
     wait_exponential,
 )
 
+from env import settings
+from ansi import ANSI, Color, Style
+
 
 def _create_retry_decorator(llm: ChatOpenAI) -> Callable[[Any], Any]:
     import openai
@@ -98,6 +103,23 @@ def _create_chat_result(response: Mapping[str, Any]) -> ChatResult:
     return ChatResult(generations=generations)
 
 
+class ModelNotFoundException(Exception):
+    """Exception raised when the model is not found."""
+
+    def __init__(self, model_name: str):
+        self.model_name = model_name
+        super().__init__(
+            f"\n\nModel {ANSI(self.model_name).to(Color.red())} does not exist.\nMake sure if you have access to the model.\n"
+            + f"You can the model name with the environment variable {ANSI('MODEL_NAME').to(Style.bold())} on {ANSI('.env').to(Style.bold())}.\n"
+            + "\nex) MODEL_NAME=gpt-4\n"
+            + ANSI(
+                "\nLooks like you don't have access to gpt-4 yet. Try using `gpt-3.5-turbo`."
+                if self.model_name == "gpt-4"
+                else ""
+            ).to(Style.italic())
+        )
+
+
 class ChatOpenAI(BaseChatModel, BaseModel):
     """Wrapper around OpenAI Chat large language models.
 
@@ -115,7 +137,7 @@ class ChatOpenAI(BaseChatModel, BaseModel):
     """
 
     client: Any  #: :meta private:
-    model_name: str = "gpt-4"
+    model_name: str = settings["MODEL_NAME"]
     """Model name to use."""
     model_kwargs: Dict[str, Any] = Field(default_factory=dict)
     """Holds any model parameters valid for `create` call not explicitly specified."""
@@ -134,6 +156,14 @@ class ChatOpenAI(BaseChatModel, BaseModel):
 
         extra = Extra.ignore
 
+    def check_access(self) -> None:
+        """Check that the user has access to the model."""
+
+        try:
+            openai.Engine.retrieve(self.model_name)
+        except openai.error.InvalidRequestError:
+            raise ModelNotFoundException(self.model_name)
+
     @root_validator(pre=True)
     def build_extra(cls, values: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         """Build extra kwargs from additional params that were passed in."""
diff --git a/env.py b/env.py
index 071ecef..061c286 100644
--- a/env.py
+++ b/env.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ class DotEnv(TypedDict):
 EVAL_PORT = int(os.getenv("EVAL_PORT", 8000))
 settings: DotEnv = {
     "EVAL_PORT": EVAL_PORT,
+    "MODEL_NAME": os.getenv("MODEL_NAME", "gpt-4"),
     "SERVER": os.getenv("SERVER", f"http://localhost:{EVAL_PORT}"),
     "USE_GPU": os.getenv("USE_GPU", "False").lower() == "true",
     "PLAYGROUND_DIR": os.getenv("PLAYGROUND_DIR", "playground"),