Intermittent 401 missing scope errors with gpt-5.1 API requests

Hi everyone,

I am new to using the OpenAI API (not a developer, still learning), and I ran into an issue while making a large number of requests.

Issue

• 4,950 total requests
• A small number failed intermittently
• Error:
  • ERROR: Error code: 401 - {‘error’: {‘message’: “You have insufficient permissions for this operation. Missing scopes: model.request. Check that you have the correct role in your organization (Reader, Writer, Owner) and project (Member, Owner), and if you’re using a restricted API key, that it has the necessary scopes.”, ‘type’: ‘invalid_request_error’, ‘param’: None, ‘code’: ‘missing_scope’}}
• Model is gpt-5.1
• API key is valid and unrestricted (org owner)

Context

• Requests are very similar in structure, and some follow repeated patterns
• The errors appear random and don’t seem tied to specific inputs
• Re-running failed requests usually works without any changes

I was wondering if there was a way to prevent or reduce these intermittent 401 errors?

For example, should I add retries with delays, or could this be related to rate limits or request timing? Are there best practices to avoid this kind of issue?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!