diff --git a/python/lancedb/embeddings/openai.py b/python/lancedb/embeddings/openai.py
index 406ed40f..678fe417 100644
--- a/python/lancedb/embeddings/openai.py
+++ b/python/lancedb/embeddings/openai.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 #  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 #  limitations under the License.
+from functools import cached_property
 from typing import List, Union
 
 import numpy as np
@@ -44,6 +45,10 @@ class OpenAIEmbeddings(TextEmbeddingFunction):
             The texts to embed
         """
         # TODO retry, rate limit, token limit
+        rs = self._openai_client.embeddings.create(input=texts, model=self.name)
+        return [v.embedding for v in rs.data]
+
+    @cached_property
+    def _openai_client(self):
         openai = self.safe_import("openai")
-        rs = openai.Embedding.create(input=texts, model=self.name)["data"]
-        return [v["embedding"] for v in rs]
+        return openai.OpenAI()
diff --git a/python/lancedb/embeddings/utils.py b/python/lancedb/embeddings/utils.py
index 59ed0460..8f893142 100644
--- a/python/lancedb/embeddings/utils.py
+++ b/python/lancedb/embeddings/utils.py
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ def retry_with_exponential_backoff(
 
                 if num_retries > max_retries:
                     raise Exception(
-                        f"Maximum number of retries ({max_retries}) exceeded."
+                        f"Maximum number of retries ({max_retries}) exceeded.", e
                     )
 
                 delay *= exponential_base * (1 + jitter * random.random())
diff --git a/python/pyproject.toml b/python/pyproject.toml
index bf16676f..73a0a625 100644
--- a/python/pyproject.toml
+++ b/python/pyproject.toml
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ tests = ["pandas>=1.4", "pytest", "pytest-mock", "pytest-asyncio", "requests", "
 dev = ["ruff", "pre-commit", "black"]
 docs = ["mkdocs", "mkdocs-jupyter", "mkdocs-material", "mkdocstrings[python]"]
 clip = ["torch", "pillow", "open-clip"]
-embeddings = ["openai", "sentence-transformers", "torch", "pillow", "open-clip-torch", "cohere", "InstructorEmbedding"]
+embeddings = ["openai>=1.6.1", "sentence-transformers", "torch", "pillow", "open-clip-torch", "cohere", "InstructorEmbedding"]
 
 [project.scripts]
 lancedb = "lancedb.cli.cli:cli"
diff --git a/python/tests/test_embeddings_slow.py b/python/tests/test_embeddings_slow.py
index 2e116827..826934f9 100644
--- a/python/tests/test_embeddings_slow.py
+++ b/python/tests/test_embeddings_slow.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ from lancedb.pydantic import LanceModel, Vector
 
 @pytest.mark.slow
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("alias", ["sentence-transformers", "openai"])
-def test_sentence_transformer(alias, tmp_path):
+def test_basic_text_embeddings(alias, tmp_path):
     db = lancedb.connect(tmp_path)
     registry = get_registry()
     func = registry.get(alias).create(max_retries=0)