diff --git a/examples/text-generation/checkpoint_utils.py b/examples/text-generation/checkpoint_utils.py
index 067ad4a36e..7b60f4a931 100644
--- a/examples/text-generation/checkpoint_utils.py
+++ b/examples/text-generation/checkpoint_utils.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import torch
-from huggingface_hub import snapshot_download
+from huggingface_hub import list_repo_files, snapshot_download
 from transformers.utils import is_offline_mode, is_safetensors_available
 
 
@@ -20,13 +20,21 @@ def get_repo_root(model_name_or_path, local_rank=-1):
             if local_rank == 0:
                 print("Offline mode: forcing local_files_only=True")
 
+        # Only download PyTorch weights by default
+        allow_patterns = ["*.bin"]
+        # If the model repo contains any .safetensors file and
+        # safetensors is installed, only download safetensors weights
+        if is_safetensors_available():
+            if any(".safetensors" in filename for filename in list_repo_files(model_name_or_path)):
+                allow_patterns = ["*.safetensors"]
+
         # Download only on first process
         if local_rank in [-1, 0]:
             cache_dir = snapshot_download(
                 model_name_or_path,
                 local_files_only=is_offline_mode(),
                 cache_dir=os.getenv("TRANSFORMERS_CACHE", None),
-                allow_patterns=["*.safetensors"] if is_safetensors_available() else ["*.bin"],
+                allow_patterns=allow_patterns,
                 max_workers=16,
             )
             if local_rank == -1:
@@ -40,7 +48,7 @@ def get_repo_root(model_name_or_path, local_rank=-1):
             model_name_or_path,
             local_files_only=is_offline_mode(),
             cache_dir=os.getenv("TRANSFORMERS_CACHE", None),
-            allow_patterns=["*.safetensors"] if is_safetensors_available() else ["*.bin"],
+            allow_patterns=allow_patterns,
         )