diff --git a/alwrity.py b/alwrity.py
index 057622a4..d37a8c81 100644
--- a/alwrity.py
+++ b/alwrity.py
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ def check_llm_environs():
         api_key = typer.prompt(f"\n🙆🙆Please enter {api_key_var} API Key:")
 
         # Update .env file
-        with open(".env", "a") as env_file:
+        with open(".env", "a", encoding="utf-8") as env_file:
             env_file.write(f"GPT_PROVIDER={gpt_provider.lower()}\n")
             env_file.write(f"{api_key_var}={api_key}\n")
 
diff --git a/lib/ai_web_researcher/common_utils.py b/lib/ai_web_researcher/common_utils.py
index 64694295..31447d74 100644
--- a/lib/ai_web_researcher/common_utils.py
+++ b/lib/ai_web_researcher/common_utils.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ def cfg_search_param(flag):
         file_path = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2] / "main_config"
         logger.info(f"Reading search config params from {file_path}")
         config = configparser.ConfigParser()
-        config.read(file_path)
+        config.read(file_path, encoding="utf-8")
         web_research_section = config["web_research"]
 
         if 'serperdev' in flag:
diff --git a/lib/blog_postprocessing/blog_proof_reader.py b/lib/blog_postprocessing/blog_proof_reader.py
index d60bc1dc..14277e6f 100644
--- a/lib/blog_postprocessing/blog_proof_reader.py
+++ b/lib/blog_postprocessing/blog_proof_reader.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ def blog_proof_editor(blog_content):
         config_path = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..', 'main_config'))
         config = configparser.ConfigParser()
         #config = configparser.RawConfigParser()
-        config.read(config_path, encoding='utf-8-sig')
+        config.read(config_path, encoding='utf-8')
     except Exception as err:
         print(f"ProofReader: Failed to read values from config: {err}")
 
diff --git a/lib/gpt_providers/text_generation/main_text_generation.py b/lib/gpt_providers/text_generation/main_text_generation.py
index ee5c3366..d468234a 100644
--- a/lib/gpt_providers/text_generation/main_text_generation.py
+++ b/lib/gpt_providers/text_generation/main_text_generation.py
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ def read_llm_parameters(config_path: str) -> tuple:
     """
     try:
         config = configparser.ConfigParser()
-        config.read(config_path)
+        config.read(config_path, encoding="utf-8")
 
         gpt_provider = config.get('llm_options', 'gpt_provider')
         model = config.get('llm_options', 'model')