diff --git a/backend/danswer/background/update.py b/backend/danswer/background/update.py
index 9937d43638..ec5378dd31 100755
--- a/backend/danswer/background/update.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/background/update.py
@@ -49,6 +49,13 @@ _UNEXPECTED_STATE_FAILURE_REASON = (
 )
 
 
+def _get_num_threads() -> int:
+    """Get # of "threads" to use for ML models in an indexing job. By default uses
+    the torch implementation, which returns the # of physical cores on the machine.
+    """
+    return max(MIN_THREADS_ML_MODELS, torch.get_num_threads())
+
+
 def should_create_new_indexing(
     connector: Connector, last_index: IndexAttempt | None, db_session: Session
 ) -> bool:
@@ -356,21 +363,18 @@ def _run_indexing(
     _index(db_session, index_attempt, doc_batch_generator, run_time)
 
 
-def _run_indexing_entrypoint(index_attempt_id: int) -> None:
+def _run_indexing_entrypoint(index_attempt_id: int, num_threads: int) -> None:
     """Entrypoint for indexing run when using dask distributed.
     Wraps the actual logic in a `try` block so that we can catch any exceptions
     and mark the attempt as failed."""
-
-    cpu_cores_to_use = max(MIN_THREADS_ML_MODELS, torch.get_num_threads())
-
-    logger.info(f"Setting task to use {cpu_cores_to_use} threads")
-    torch.set_num_threads(cpu_cores_to_use)
-
     try:
         # set the indexing attempt ID so that all log messages from this process
         # will have it added as a prefix
         IndexAttemptSingleton.set_index_attempt_id(index_attempt_id)
 
+        logger.info(f"Setting task to use {num_threads} threads")
+        torch.set_num_threads(num_threads)
+
         with Session(get_sqlalchemy_engine()) as db_session:
             attempt = get_index_attempt(
                 db_session=db_session, index_attempt_id=index_attempt_id
@@ -444,7 +448,9 @@ def kickoff_indexing_jobs(
             f"with config: '{attempt.connector.connector_specific_config}', and "
             f"with credentials: '{attempt.credential_id}'"
         )
-        run = client.submit(_run_indexing_entrypoint, attempt.id, pure=False)
+        run = client.submit(
+            _run_indexing_entrypoint, attempt.id, _get_num_threads(), pure=False
+        )
         existing_jobs_copy[attempt.id] = run
 
     return existing_jobs_copy