diff --git a/cogs/chat.py b/cogs/chat.py
index 59cdd617..1e562cb6 100644
--- a/cogs/chat.py
+++ b/cogs/chat.py
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-openai = AsyncOpenAI(api_key=os.environ["OPENAI"])
-
 POSSIBLE_SENSITIVE_MESSAGE = "*Possibly sensitive:* ||"
 POSSIBLE_OFFENSIVE_MESSAGE = "**I failed to respond because my message might have been offensive, please choose another topic or try again**"
 
@@ -347,6 +345,7 @@ class Chat(commands.Cog):
 
   def __init__(self, bot: Friday):
     self.bot: Friday = bot
+    self.openai = AsyncOpenAI(api_key=os.environ["OPENAI"])
 
     # https://help.openai.com/en/articles/5008629-can-i-use-concurrent-api-calls
     self.api_lock = asyncio.Semaphore(2)  # bot.openai_api_lock
@@ -592,7 +591,7 @@ async def content_filter_flagged(self, text: str) -> tuple[bool, list[str]]:
     if self.bot.testing:
       return False, []
     async with self.api_lock:
-      response = await openai.moderations.create(
+      response = await self.openai.moderations.create(
                   model="text-moderation-latest",
                   input=text,
               )
@@ -621,14 +620,14 @@ async def openai_req(
     async with self.api_lock:
       if _continue:
         log.info(messages)
-        response = await openai.chat.completions.create(model=PremiumPerks(current_tier).model,
+        response = await self.openai.chat.completions.create(model=PremiumPerks(current_tier).model,
         messages=messages,
         temperature=0,
         max_tokens=PremiumPerks(current_tier).max_chat_tokens,
         user=str(msg.channel.id))
       else:
         log.info(messages + [{'role': 'user', 'content': f"{content}"}])
-        response = await openai.chat.completions.create(model=PremiumPerks(current_tier).model,
+        response = await self.openai.chat.completions.create(model=PremiumPerks(current_tier).model,
         messages=messages + [{'role': 'user', 'content': f"{content}"}],
         max_tokens=PremiumPerks(current_tier).max_chat_tokens,
         user=str(msg.channel.id))
diff --git a/cogs/welcome.py b/cogs/welcome.py
index a15eb847..601a8c2d 100644
--- a/cogs/welcome.py
+++ b/cogs/welcome.py
@@ -109,25 +109,22 @@ async def on_guild_channel_delete(self, channel: discord.abc.GuildChannel):
       log.info(f"removed welcome channel for {channel.guild} (ID:{channel.guild.id})")
 
   async def send_ai_welcome_message(self, config: Config, member: discord.Member) -> None:
-    chat: Chat = self.bot.get_cog("Chat")  # type: ignore
-    if chat is None:
+    if self.bot.chat is None:
       log.error("Chat cog not loaded")
       return
-    async with chat.api_lock:
-      response = await self.bot.loop.run_in_executor(
-          None,
-          functools.partial(
-              lambda: openai.ChatCompletion.create(
+    async with self.bot.chat.api_lock:
+      response = await self.bot.chat.openai.chat.completions.create(
                   model="gpt-3.5-turbo",
                   messages=[
                       {'role': 'user', 'content': f"You're WelcomeGPT. You welcome new users to the Discord server '{member.guild.name}' with at very short and unique messages with a joke about their name and include their user mention as their name at least once. Don't include quotation marks.\n Now welcome, {member.display_name} to the server, with the user mention {member.mention}."},
                   ],
                   max_tokens=75,
-                  user=str(member.id),
-              )))
+                  user=str(member.id)
+              )
     if response is None:
       return None
-    message = response.get("choices")[0]["message"]["content"]   # type: ignore
+    message = response.choices[0].message.content
+    assert message is not None
     if member.mention not in message:
       message = member.mention + " " + message
     if config.channel:
diff --git a/index.py b/index.py
index 7d5f24d6..6feb57b4 100755
--- a/index.py
+++ b/index.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
   from .cogs.patreons import Patreons
   from .cogs.reminder import Reminder
   from .cogs.sharding import Event
+  from .cogs.chat import Chat
 
 
 load_dotenv()
@@ -361,6 +362,10 @@ def patreon(self) -> Optional[Patreons]:
   def support(self) -> Optional[Support]:
     return self.get_cog("Support")  # type: ignore
 
+  @property
+  def chat(self) -> Optional[Chat]:
+    return self.get_cog("Chat")  # type: ignore
+
   # @property
   # def sharding(self) -> Optional[Sharding]:
   #   return self.get_cog("Sharding")  # type: ignore