diff --git a/plugins/gpt2/gpt2.go b/plugins/gpt2/gpt2.go
index 4e25355..215a709 100644
--- a/plugins/gpt2/gpt2.go
+++ b/plugins/gpt2/gpt2.go
@@ -36,7 +36,11 @@ func (p *GPT2Plugin) message(c bot.Connector, kind bot.Kind, message msg.Message
 	lowerBody := strings.ToLower(message.Body)
 	if message.Command && strings.HasPrefix(lowerBody, prefix) {
 		input := message.Body[len(prefix)+1:]
-		p.b.Send(c, bot.Message, ch, p.getGPTText(input))
+		txt, err := p.getGPTText(input)
+		if err != nil {
+			txt = p.c.Get("gpt.error", "The GPT service is unavailable.")
+		}
+		p.b.Send(c, bot.Message, ch, txt)
 		return true
 	}
 	return false
@@ -50,24 +54,24 @@ func (p *GPT2Plugin) help(c bot.Connector, kind bot.Kind, message msg.Message, a
 
 const separator = "<|endoftext|>"
 
-func (p *GPT2Plugin) getGPTText(input string) string {
+func (p *GPT2Plugin) getGPTText(input string) (string, error) {
 	serviceURI := p.c.Get("gpt.service", "")
 	if serviceURI == "" {
-		return "Cannot contact GPT2 service."
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("cannot contact GPT2 service")
 	}
 	values := url.Values{}
 	values.Add("text", input)
 	resp, err := http.PostForm(serviceURI, values)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("Error retrieving GPT2 response: %s", err)
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("error retrieving GPT2 response: %s", err)
 	}
 	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("Error reading GPT2 response: %s", err)
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("error reading GPT2 response: %s", err)
 	}
 	resp.Body.Close()
 	txt := p.cleanup(input + string(body))
-	return txt
+	return txt, nil
 }
 
 func (p *GPT2Plugin) cleanup(txt string) string {