diff --git a/cognee/infrastructure/databases/vector/embeddings/LiteLLMEmbeddingEngine.py b/cognee/infrastructure/databases/vector/embeddings/LiteLLMEmbeddingEngine.py
index 12de57617..4ee5e3a17 100644
--- a/cognee/infrastructure/databases/vector/embeddings/LiteLLMEmbeddingEngine.py
+++ b/cognee/infrastructure/databases/vector/embeddings/LiteLLMEmbeddingEngine.py
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ class LiteLLMEmbeddingEngine(EmbeddingEngine):
                     response = await litellm.aembedding(
                         model=self.model,
                         input=text,
-                        api_key=self.api_key,
+                        api_key=self.api_key if self.api_key and self.api_key.strip() != "" else "EMPTY",
                         api_base=self.endpoint,
                         api_version=self.api_version,
                     )