diff --git a/enterprise/app/services/messages/audio_transcription_service.rb b/enterprise/app/services/messages/audio_transcription_service.rb
index 4aa156f47..0e574cb03 100644
--- a/enterprise/app/services/messages/audio_transcription_service.rb
+++ b/enterprise/app/services/messages/audio_transcription_service.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ class Messages::AudioTranscriptionService< Llm::LegacyBaseOpenAiService
     transcriptions = transcribe_audio
     Rails.logger.info "Audio transcription successful: #{transcriptions}"
     { success: true, transcriptions: transcriptions }
+  rescue Faraday::UnauthorizedError
+    Rails.logger.warn('Skipping audio transcription: OpenAI configuration is invalid or disabled (401 Unauthorized).')
+    { error: 'OpenAI configuration is invalid or disabled (401)' }
   end
 
   private