diff --git a/bin/quak.ts b/bin/quak.ts
index 1d9e48d..6726791 100644
--- a/bin/quak.ts
+++ b/bin/quak.ts
@@ -340,26 +340,19 @@ program
         "Dump all decrypted account metadata to a directory of JSON files",
     )
     .argument("<dir>", "Output directory")
-    .option("--no-ml", "Skip ML data (face detections, CLIP embeddings)")
     .option(
         "--exif",
         "Download each file and extract full EXIF/IPTC/XMP metadata (slow)",
     )
     .option("--all", "Alias for --exif")
-    .action(
-        async (
-            dir: string,
-            opts: { ml?: boolean; exif?: boolean; all?: boolean },
-        ) => {
-            await init();
-            const client = requireSession();
-            await runMetadataBackup(client, dir, {
-                mlData: opts.ml,
-                exif: opts.exif || opts.all,
-                onProgress: (msg) => stderr.write(msg + "\n"),
-            });
-        },
-    );
+    .action(async (dir: string, opts: { exif?: boolean; all?: boolean }) => {
+        await init();
+        const client = requireSession();
+        await runMetadataBackup(client, dir, {
+            exif: opts.exif || opts.all,
+            onProgress: (msg) => stderr.write(msg + "\n"),
+        });
+    });
 
 program
     .command("backup")
diff --git a/src/metadata-backup.ts b/src/metadata-backup.ts
index b44f47f..aacf990 100644
--- a/src/metadata-backup.ts
+++ b/src/metadata-backup.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import type { EnteFile } from "./model/types.js";
 export type ProgressCallback = (message: string) => void;
 
 export interface MetadataBackupOptions {
-    mlData?: boolean;
     exif?: boolean;
     onProgress?: ProgressCallback;
 }
@@ -120,7 +119,6 @@ export const runMetadataBackup = async (
     opts?: MetadataBackupOptions,
 ): Promise<void> => {
     const log = opts?.onProgress ?? (() => {});
-    const wantML = opts?.mlData ?? true;
     const wantExif = opts?.exif ?? false;
 
     mkdirSync(outDir, { recursive: true });
@@ -176,17 +174,13 @@ export const runMetadataBackup = async (
         }
     }
 
-    // Fetch ML data in bulk if requested
-    let mlDataMap = new Map<number, Record<string, unknown>>();
-    if (wantML) {
-        log("Fetching ML data (face detections, CLIP embeddings)...");
-        mlDataMap = await fetchMLDataForFiles(
-            client,
-            [...fileKeys.keys()],
-            fileKeys,
-        );
-        log(`Got ML data for ${mlDataMap.size} file(s)`);
-    }
+    log("Fetching ML data (face detections, CLIP embeddings)...");
+    const mlDataMap = await fetchMLDataForFiles(
+        client,
+        [...fileKeys.keys()],
+        fileKeys,
+    );
+    log(`Got ML data for ${mlDataMap.size} file(s)`);
 
     // Write per-file JSON (with optional ML data and EXIF)
     const writtenFileIDs = new Set<number>();
diff --git a/test/cli/metadata-backup.test.ts b/test/cli/metadata-backup.test.ts
index 09cc746..23d13ff 100644
--- a/test/cli/metadata-backup.test.ts
+++ b/test/cli/metadata-backup.test.ts
@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ describe("quak backup-metadata", () => {
         expect(account.email).toBe(TEST_EMAIL);
     });
 
-    it("fetches and decrypts ML data when --ml is set", async () => {
+    it("fetches and decrypts ML data by default", async () => {
         const outDir = join(testDir, "ml-data");
         const client = await Client.login({
             email: TEST_EMAIL,
@@ -565,7 +565,7 @@ describe("quak backup-metadata", () => {
             apiOptions: { fetch: buildMetaFetch(mock) },
         });
 
-        await runMetadataBackup(client, outDir, { mlData: true });
+        await runMetadataBackup(client, outDir);
 
         const collDirs = readdirSync(join(outDir, "collections"));
         const vacDir = collDirs.find((d) => d.includes("Vacation"))!;
@@ -587,49 +587,6 @@ describe("quak backup-metadata", () => {
         expect(fileMeta.mlData.clip.embedding).toEqual([0.5, 0.6, 0.7]);
     });
 
-    it("includes ML data by default", async () => {
-        const outDir = join(testDir, "ml-default");
-        const client = await Client.login({
-            email: TEST_EMAIL,
-            password: TEST_PASSWORD,
-            apiOptions: { fetch: buildMetaFetch(mock) },
-        });
-
-        await runMetadataBackup(client, outDir);
-
-        const collDirs = readdirSync(join(outDir, "collections"));
-        const vacDir = collDirs.find((d) => d.includes("Vacation"))!;
-        const fileMeta = JSON.parse(
-            readFileSync(
-                join(outDir, "collections", vacDir, "100.json"),
-                "utf-8",
-            ),
-        );
-        expect(fileMeta.mlData).toBeDefined();
-        expect(fileMeta.mlData.face.faces[0].faceID).toBe("face-abc");
-    });
-
-    it("excludes ML data when mlData: false", async () => {
-        const outDir = join(testDir, "no-ml");
-        const client = await Client.login({
-            email: TEST_EMAIL,
-            password: TEST_PASSWORD,
-            apiOptions: { fetch: buildMetaFetch(mock) },
-        });
-
-        await runMetadataBackup(client, outDir, { mlData: false });
-
-        const collDirs = readdirSync(join(outDir, "collections"));
-        const vacDir = collDirs.find((d) => d.includes("Vacation"))!;
-        const fileMeta = JSON.parse(
-            readFileSync(
-                join(outDir, "collections", vacDir, "100.json"),
-                "utf-8",
-            ),
-        );
-        expect(fileMeta.mlData).toBeUndefined();
-    });
-
     it("extracts EXIF from downloaded files when --exif is set", async () => {
         const outDir = join(testDir, "exif-data");
         const client = await Client.login({