Known Issue: Brevity Blocked by Corporate Firewall / Web Filter

Summary

Some users are unable to connect to role plays, see live transcription, or have conversations save correctly when Brevity is accessed on a corporate network.

In most cases, this is caused by your firewall or web content filter blocking our real‑time AI service at api.openai.com/v1/realtime.

If your organization cannot allowlist OpenAI immediately, you can be unblocked right away by switching your speech‑to‑text (STT) provider to Deepgram. This will:

Restore the ability to practice in Brevity
Allow you to continue training while your IT team works on allowlisting OpenAI

You will notice a difference in latency and voice realism when using Deepgram, but it will provide a functional workaround.

Impact

When the required services are blocked, you may see:

Role play sessions failing to connect or timing out
No live transcription appearing during a session
Conversations not being saved or appearing incomplete

This is most commonly due to OpenAI real‑time traffic being blocked during role play recording if Open AI Realtime is the selected speech-to-text service provider.

Root Cause

Brevity relies on several third‑party, secure services to:

Capture and transcribe trainee speech in real time
Upload and save role play video recordings

Many corporate networks require explicit allowlisting for these outbound connections. When these endpoints are blocked, Brevity’s real‑time and/or upload functionality is interrupted.

The most frequent blocker is:

api.openai.com/v1/realtime (real‑time AI connection)

Immediate Workaround: Switch STT Provider to Deepgram

If your IT/security team cannot allowlist OpenAI right away:

Request to change your Brevity STT provider to Deepgram.
Once switched:
- You should be able to connect to role plays again.
- Transcription and practice will resume even if OpenAI is still blocked.
- You may observe:
  - Changes in latency (how quickly responses appear)
  - Changes in voice realism compared to the OpenAI experience
In parallel, your IT team can work on properly allowlisting OpenAI so you can return to the full real‑time experience when ready.

Required Allowlisting for Real‑Time Transcription and Response Generation

To prevent real‑time connectivity and transcription issues, IT teams should allowlist these domains:

Real‑time transcription / AI endpoints:

api.assemblyai.com
streaming.assemblyai.com
api.deepgram.com
api.openai.com/v1/realtime ← most commonly blocked

If any of these are blocked:

Role play sessions may fail to connect
Speech may not be transcribed
Conversations may not be saved correctly

Optional Allowlisting: Video Uploads

If transcription is working but video uploads are failing, your IT team may also need to allowlist:

brevityvideo-input.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
brevityvideo-input.s3.amazonaws.com

If blocked:

Role play videos may not upload
Sessions may not save or may appear without video

Tip for IT: Prioritize the real‑time transcription endpoints first. Only add the video upload endpoints if users report that uploads are failing while transcription is already working.

Guidance for IT / Security Teams

Please:

Allowlist the domains above in your firewall and web content filtering tools.
Check network logs for blocked or denied outbound requests to:
- api.openai.com/v1/realtime
- api.deepgram.com
- api.assemblyai.com
- streaming.assemblyai.com
- The brevityvideo-input.s3.* endpoints (if upload issues occur)

These services use encrypted, outbound HTTPS traffic and are required for Brevity to function as designed.

Need Help?

If your IT or security team has questions about:

Traffic patterns or destinations
Encryption and data flow
Which endpoints are required for which features

Please contact your Brevity Customer Success Manager. We can coordinate directly with your security team to review requirements and help them safely allowlist the necessary services.