diff --git a/backend/app/llms.py b/backend/app/llms.py
index 90add763..c7c6ef52 100644
--- a/backend/app/llms.py
+++ b/backend/app/llms.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 @lru_cache(maxsize=4)
 def get_openai_llm(gpt_4: bool = False, azure: bool = False):
     proxy_url = os.getenv("PROXY_URL")
-    if proxy_url is not None or proxy_url != "":
+    if proxy_url is not None and proxy_url != "":
         http_client = httpx.AsyncClient(proxies=proxy_url)
     else:
         http_client = None