diff --git a/colab/01_Building_the_Hank_ai_Darknet_YOLO_Framework.ipynb b/colab/01_Building_the_Hank_ai_Darknet_YOLO_Framework.ipynb
index 06a79257..b4cf7bd8 100644
--- a/colab/01_Building_the_Hank_ai_Darknet_YOLO_Framework.ipynb
+++ b/colab/01_Building_the_Hank_ai_Darknet_YOLO_Framework.ipynb
@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@
       },
       "outputs": [],
       "source": [
+		"# Check that the google colab instance provides a GPU before starting",
+		"import os\n",
+		"assert os.environ.get(\"COLAB_GPU\"), \"GPU required. Change runtime type to GPU in Edit > Notebook settings > T4 GPU\"\n",
+		"\n",
         "# First part will install the tools we'll use to build.\n",
         "!sudo apt-get install build-essential git libopencv-dev cmake\n",
         "\n",
@@ -297,4 +301,4 @@
       }
     }
   ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/colab/02_Building_Darknet_and_DarkHelp_to_use_the_Python_interface.ipynb b/colab/02_Building_Darknet_and_DarkHelp_to_use_the_Python_interface.ipynb
index 77948ee3..40aa86b1 100644
--- a/colab/02_Building_Darknet_and_DarkHelp_to_use_the_Python_interface.ipynb
+++ b/colab/02_Building_Darknet_and_DarkHelp_to_use_the_Python_interface.ipynb
@@ -40,8 +40,11 @@
       },
       "outputs": [],
       "source": [
-        "# make sure the notebook is set to T4 GPU (edit->settings)\n",
-        "!sudo apt-get install build-essential git libopencv-dev cmake\n",
+		"# Check that the google colab instance provides a GPU before starting",
+		"import os\n",
+		"assert os.environ.get(\"COLAB_GPU\"), \"GPU required. Change runtime type to GPU in Edit > Notebook settings > T4 GPU\"\n",
+		"\n",
+		"!sudo apt-get install build-essential git libopencv-dev cmake\n",
         "\n",
         "%mkdir -p ~/src\n",
         "%cd ~/src\n",
@@ -173,4 +176,4 @@
       "outputs": []
     }
   ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/colab/03_Training_a_new_network.ipynb b/colab/03_Training_a_new_network.ipynb
index 2e80c5ee..d685cd02 100644
--- a/colab/03_Training_a_new_network.ipynb
+++ b/colab/03_Training_a_new_network.ipynb
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@
     {
       "cell_type": "code",
       "source": [
+		"# Check that the google colab instance provides a GPU before starting",
+		"import os\n",
+		"assert os.environ.get(\"COLAB_GPU\"), \"GPU required. Change runtime type to GPU in Edit > Notebook settings > T4 GPU\"\n",
+		"\n",
         "!sudo apt-get install build-essential git libopencv-dev cmake\n",
         "\n",
         "# Make sure we have access to CUDA\n",
@@ -188,4 +192,4 @@
       "outputs": []
     }
   ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}