diff --git a/packages/media_proxy/src/lib/NSFWDetectionService.tsx b/packages/media_proxy/src/lib/NSFWDetectionService.tsx
index 39cb4984..9b19dd67 100644
--- a/packages/media_proxy/src/lib/NSFWDetectionService.tsx
+++ b/packages/media_proxy/src/lib/NSFWDetectionService.tsx
@@ -49,6 +49,12 @@ export class NSFWDetectionService {
 	}
 
 	async initialize(): Promise<void> {
+		try {
+			await fs.access(this.modelPath);
+		} catch {
+			this.session = null;
+			return;
+		}
 		const modelBuffer = await fs.readFile(this.modelPath);
 		this.session = await ort.InferenceSession.create(modelBuffer);
 	}
@@ -60,7 +66,7 @@ export class NSFWDetectionService {
 
 	async checkNSFWBuffer(buffer: Buffer): Promise<NSFWCheckResult> {
 		if (!this.session) {
-			throw new Error('NSFW Detection service not initialized');
+			return {isNSFW: false, probability: 0};
 		}
 
 		const processedImage = await this.preprocessImage(buffer);