diff --git a/llmfoundry/models/inference_api_wrapper/gemini_chat.py b/llmfoundry/models/inference_api_wrapper/gemini_chat.py
index ce6b07ecaa..5fab95ac36 100644
--- a/llmfoundry/models/inference_api_wrapper/gemini_chat.py
+++ b/llmfoundry/models/inference_api_wrapper/gemini_chat.py
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 from time import sleep
 from typing import Any, List, Optional, Union
 
-import google.generativeai as google_genai
 from composer.core.types import Batch
+from composer.utils.import_helpers import MissingConditionalImportError
 from omegaconf import DictConfig
 from openai.types.chat.chat_completion import ChatCompletion
 from transformers import AutoTokenizer
@@ -37,6 +37,14 @@ def __init__(self, om_model_config: DictConfig,
         api_key = om_model_config.pop('api_key', None)
         if api_key is None:
             api_key = os.environ.get('GEMINI_API_KEY')
+        try:
+            import google.generativeai as google_genai
+        except ImportError as e:
+            # TODO: should google-generativeai be grouped with openai in setup.py?
+            raise MissingConditionalImportError(
+                extra_deps_group='openai',
+                conda_package='google-generativeai',
+                conda_channel='conda-forge') from e
         google_genai.configure(api_key=api_key)
         super().__init__(om_model_config, tokenizer)
         self.model_cfg = om_model_config