diff --git a/src/bespokelabs/curator/request_processor/openai_online_request_processor.py b/src/bespokelabs/curator/request_processor/openai_online_request_processor.py
index 132ae01a..cef4f277 100644
--- a/src/bespokelabs/curator/request_processor/openai_online_request_processor.py
+++ b/src/bespokelabs/curator/request_processor/openai_online_request_processor.py
@@ -674,7 +674,7 @@ def num_tokens_consumed_from_request(
                 num_tokens += 4  # every message follows <im_start>{role/name}\n{content}<im_end>\n
                 for key, value in message.items():
                     try:
-                        num_tokens += len(encoding.encode(str(value)))
+                        num_tokens += len(encoding.encode(str(value), disallowed_special=()))
                     except TypeError:
                         logger.warning(
                             f"Failed to encode value {value} with tiktoken to count tokens. Instead assuming a token for every 4 characters."
@@ -688,11 +688,13 @@ def num_tokens_consumed_from_request(
         else:
             prompt = api_specific_request_json["prompt"]
             if isinstance(prompt, str):  # single prompt
-                prompt_tokens = len(encoding.encode(prompt))
+                prompt_tokens = len(encoding.encode(prompt, disallowed_special=()))
                 num_tokens = prompt_tokens + completion_tokens
                 return num_tokens
             elif isinstance(prompt, list):  # multiple prompts
-                prompt_tokens = sum([len(encoding.encode(p)) for p in prompt])
+                prompt_tokens = sum(
+                    [len(encoding.encode(p, disallowed_special=())) for p in prompt]
+                )
                 num_tokens = prompt_tokens + completion_tokens * len(prompt)
                 return num_tokens
             else:
@@ -703,10 +705,10 @@ def num_tokens_consumed_from_request(
     elif api_endpoint == "embeddings":
         input = api_specific_request_json["input"]
         if isinstance(input, str):  # single input
-            num_tokens = len(encoding.encode(input))
+            num_tokens = len(encoding.encode(input, disallowed_special=()))
             return num_tokens
         elif isinstance(input, list):  # multiple inputs
-            num_tokens = sum([len(encoding.encode(i)) for i in input])
+            num_tokens = sum([len(encoding.encode(i, disallowed_special=())) for i in input])
             return num_tokens
         else:
             raise TypeError(