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AI Not Responding? Quick Troubleshooting Guide - AIWU – AI Plugin for WordPress
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AI Not Responding? Quick Troubleshooting Guide

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Your AI chatbot or content generator stopped responding — and you need it working now. This guide walks you through the most common causes, in order from fastest to fix to most complex. Most users solve it in under 2 minutes.

Before You Start

You’ll need:

  • Access to your WordPress Admin panel
  • Your AI provider API key (you’ll need to check it)
  • Time needed: 2–5 minutes

Quick Fix: Try This First (Solves 80% of Cases)

Go to WordPress Admin → AI Copilot → Settings → API.

Find the API Key field for your active provider. Delete the value and paste your key again — making sure there are no spaces before or after it. Click Save Changes.

Now test again. If the AI responds → you’re done. If not → continue below.

💡 Tip: Always paste your API key using Ctrl+V (not right-click → Paste), and check that no extra spaces were added.

If That Didn’t Work: Check These Causes

Cause 1: Invalid or Expired API Key

How to check: Go to your AI provider’s dashboard (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, etc.) and verify the key still exists and is active. Some keys expire or get revoked when you regenerate them.

Fix: Generate a new API key in your provider’s dashboard. Copy it, go to WordPress Admin → AI Copilot → Settings → API, paste the new key, and click Save Changes.

⚠️ Important: When you generate a new key, the old one usually stops working immediately. Update it in AIWU right away.

Need help finding your API key? See the guide for your provider:
→ Get your Anthropic (Claude) API key
→ Get your OpenRouter API key
→ Get your Perplexity API key

For a full guide on fixing API key errors: API Key Issues: Common Errors and How to Fix Them

Cause 2: No Billing / Account Credit

How to check: Go to your provider’s billing page. Most providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek) require a payment method and a positive balance to process API requests. A $0 balance = no responses.

Fix: Add a credit card or top up your balance in your provider’s account. OpenAI and Anthropic require prepaid credit; DeepSeek and OpenRouter also need a funded account.

💡 Tip: Start with a small amount ($5–$10) to test. Most chatbot use cases cost less than $1/month at low traffic.

Cause 3: Wrong AI Provider Selected

How to check: Go to WordPress Admin → AI Copilot → AI ChatBots → Edit your chatbot → API tab. Check which provider is selected in the dropdown. Then go to Settings → API and confirm you have a valid key entered for that same provider.

Fix: Either switch the chatbot to the provider whose key you have, or add the correct key for the currently selected provider.

Not sure which provider to use? See: Which AI Provider Should I Choose? Decision Guide

Cause 4: Provider Service Outage

How to check: Visit your provider’s status page:

Fix: If the provider is down, you have two options: wait for them to recover (usually under 1 hour), or switch to a different provider temporarily. OpenRouter lets you access multiple providers with one key — useful as a backup.

Cause 5: Your Country or Domain Is Not Supported

How to check: Some AI providers block access from certain countries or regions. If your server is hosted in a restricted location, API calls will fail silently or return errors.

Fix: Check the list of unsupported regions in the Unsupported Countries and Domains guide. If your region is listed, consider using OpenRouter which has broader geographic coverage.

Verify It Works

After applying any fix, test the AI directly:

  1. Go to WordPress Admin → AI Copilot → AI ChatBots
  2. Open your chatbot and click the Preview button (or open your site in an incognito window)
  3. Type “Hello” and press Enter
  4. You should see an AI response within 3–5 seconds
✅ Got a response? Your AI is working again. If you had to fix a billing issue, keep an eye on your provider account balance as usage grows.

Common Issues

Problem: I see a spinning loader but no response ever appears.
Fix: This usually means the API call is timing out. Check your server’s PHP execution time limit (should be at least 60 seconds). Also check that your hosting provider doesn’t block outbound API calls — some shared hosts restrict external HTTP requests.

Problem: The AI responds in the WordPress admin preview but not on my live site.
Fix: Clear your site cache (if you use WP Super Cache, LiteSpeed, W3 Total Cache, or a CDN like Cloudflare). Cached pages can show old static content instead of loading the chatbot. After clearing cache, test in an incognito browser window.

Problem: I get a response but it says “I cannot assist with that” or gives a refusal.
Fix: This is not a connection error — the AI is responding, but your prompt or instructions triggered a content policy refusal. Review the instructions in your chatbot’s Context tab and make sure they don’t conflict with the provider’s usage policies.

Still stuck? Check API Key Issues: Common Errors for more specific error messages, or contact support with a description of what you see (include any error messages from your browser console).

What’s Next

Last verified: AIWU v.4.9.2 · Updated: 2026-02-25

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