diff --git a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/base.py b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/base.py
index b6ee525a6..170e17478 100644
--- a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/base.py
+++ b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/base.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 from dask.distributed import Client as DaskClient
 from jupyter_ai.config_manager import ConfigManager, Logger
 from jupyter_ai.models import AgentChatMessage, ChatMessage, HumanChatMessage
-from jupyter_ai.utils import OpenAIErrorUtil
+from jupyter_ai.utils import AI21ErrorUtility, OpenAIErrorUtil
 from jupyter_ai_magics.providers import BaseProvider
 from openai.error import AuthenticationError as OpenAIAuthenticationError
 
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ def is_api_key_exc(self, e: Exception):
         """
         Checks if the exception is an API key exception.
         """
-        return OpenAIErrorUtil.is_api_key_exc(e)
+        return OpenAIErrorUtil.is_api_key_exc(e) or AI21ErrorUtility.is_api_key_exc(e)
 
     def handle_api_key_exc(self, e: Exception, message: HumanChatMessage):
         provider_name = ""
diff --git a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/utils.py b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/utils.py
index d22d64899..dd0f770ad 100644
--- a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/utils.py
+++ b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/utils.py
@@ -14,3 +14,12 @@ def is_api_key_exc(e: Exception):
             error_details = e.json_body.get("error", {})
             return error_details.get("code") == "invalid_api_key"
         return False
+
+
+class AI21ErrorUtility:
+    @staticmethod
+    def is_api_key_exc(e: Exception):
+        if isinstance(e, ValueError):
+            # Check if the exception message contains "status code 401"
+            return "status code 401" in str(e)
+        return False