diff --git a/scripts/checkpoint_converters/convert_mistral_7b_hf_to_nemo.py b/scripts/checkpoint_converters/convert_mistral_7b_hf_to_nemo.py
index 71aa6ecc7dea..5785db656217 100644
--- a/scripts/checkpoint_converters/convert_mistral_7b_hf_to_nemo.py
+++ b/scripts/checkpoint_converters/convert_mistral_7b_hf_to_nemo.py
@@ -448,18 +448,19 @@ def save_to_nemo(args, checkpoint):
     if getattr(tokenizer, 'chat_template', None) is not None:
         import hashlib
 
-        assert (
-            hashlib.md5(tokenizer.chat_template.encode('utf-8')).hexdigest() == "0b629f783db54e02509999196956ff40"
-        ), "Got unkown chat template"
-        from omegaconf import OmegaConf, open_dict
-
-        with open_dict(model.cfg):
-            model.cfg.tokenizer.chat_template = OmegaConf.create(
-                {
-                    'prefix': "{_bos_}",
-                    'roles': {'User': "[INST] {_content_} [/INST]", 'Assistant': "{_content_}{_eos_}"},
-                }
-            )
+        template_hash = hashlib.md5(tokenizer.chat_template.encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()
+        if template_hash != "0b629f783db54e02509999196956ff40":
+            logging.warning("Got unkown chat template")
+        else:
+            from omegaconf import OmegaConf, open_dict
+
+            with open_dict(model.cfg):
+                model.cfg.tokenizer.chat_template = OmegaConf.create(
+                    {
+                        'prefix': "{_bos_}",
+                        'roles': {'User': "[INST] {_content_} [/INST]", 'Assistant': "{_content_}{_eos_}"},
+                    }
+                )
 
     model.save_to(args.output_path)
     logging.info(f'NeMo model saved to: {args.output_path}')