diff --git a/docs/griptape-framework/drivers/embedding-drivers.md b/docs/griptape-framework/drivers/embedding-drivers.md
index 74a6f550e..b7212e6ff 100644
--- a/docs/griptape-framework/drivers/embedding-drivers.md
+++ b/docs/griptape-framework/drivers/embedding-drivers.md
@@ -88,10 +88,8 @@ driver = HuggingFaceHubEmbeddingDriver(
     api_token=os.environ["HUGGINGFACE_HUB_ACCESS_TOKEN"],
     model="sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2",
     tokenizer=HuggingFaceTokenizer(
+        model="sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2",
         max_output_tokens=512,
-        tokenizer=AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(
-            "sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2"
-        )
     ),
 )
 
diff --git a/docs/griptape-framework/misc/tokenizers.md b/docs/griptape-framework/misc/tokenizers.md
index 64022e4aa..04b9ed9a6 100644
--- a/docs/griptape-framework/misc/tokenizers.md
+++ b/docs/griptape-framework/misc/tokenizers.md
@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@ from griptape.tokenizers import HuggingFaceTokenizer
 
 
 tokenizer = HuggingFaceTokenizer(
+    model="sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2",
     max_output_tokens=512,
-    tokenizer=AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained("sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2")
 )
 
 print(tokenizer.count_tokens("Hello world!"))
diff --git a/griptape/drivers/prompt/amazon_sagemaker_jumpstart_prompt_driver.py b/griptape/drivers/prompt/amazon_sagemaker_jumpstart_prompt_driver.py
index 54247d001..85b9f24bb 100644
--- a/griptape/drivers/prompt/amazon_sagemaker_jumpstart_prompt_driver.py
+++ b/griptape/drivers/prompt/amazon_sagemaker_jumpstart_prompt_driver.py
@@ -30,11 +30,7 @@ class AmazonSageMakerJumpstartPromptDriver(BasePromptDriver):
     max_tokens: int = field(default=250, kw_only=True, metadata={"serializable": True})
     tokenizer: HuggingFaceTokenizer = field(
         default=Factory(
-            lambda self: HuggingFaceTokenizer(
-                tokenizer=import_optional_dependency("transformers").AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(self.model),
-                max_output_tokens=self.max_tokens,
-            ),
-            takes_self=True,
+            lambda self: HuggingFaceTokenizer(model=self.model, max_output_tokens=self.max_tokens), takes_self=True
         ),
         kw_only=True,
     )
diff --git a/griptape/drivers/prompt/huggingface_hub_prompt_driver.py b/griptape/drivers/prompt/huggingface_hub_prompt_driver.py
index c74e00609..aaf0af75a 100644
--- a/griptape/drivers/prompt/huggingface_hub_prompt_driver.py
+++ b/griptape/drivers/prompt/huggingface_hub_prompt_driver.py
@@ -42,11 +42,7 @@ class HuggingFaceHubPromptDriver(BasePromptDriver):
     )
     tokenizer: HuggingFaceTokenizer = field(
         default=Factory(
-            lambda self: HuggingFaceTokenizer(
-                tokenizer=import_optional_dependency("transformers").AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(self.model),
-                max_output_tokens=self.max_tokens,
-            ),
-            takes_self=True,
+            lambda self: HuggingFaceTokenizer(model=self.model, max_output_tokens=self.max_tokens), takes_self=True
         ),
         kw_only=True,
     )
diff --git a/griptape/drivers/prompt/huggingface_pipeline_prompt_driver.py b/griptape/drivers/prompt/huggingface_pipeline_prompt_driver.py
index 324ecd74f..6d1c1e4db 100644
--- a/griptape/drivers/prompt/huggingface_pipeline_prompt_driver.py
+++ b/griptape/drivers/prompt/huggingface_pipeline_prompt_driver.py
@@ -27,11 +27,7 @@ class HuggingFacePipelinePromptDriver(BasePromptDriver):
     params: dict = field(factory=dict, kw_only=True, metadata={"serializable": True})
     tokenizer: HuggingFaceTokenizer = field(
         default=Factory(
-            lambda self: HuggingFaceTokenizer(
-                tokenizer=import_optional_dependency("transformers").AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(self.model),
-                max_output_tokens=self.max_tokens,
-            ),
-            takes_self=True,
+            lambda self: HuggingFaceTokenizer(model=self.model, max_output_tokens=self.max_tokens), takes_self=True
         ),
         kw_only=True,
     )
diff --git a/griptape/tokenizers/huggingface_tokenizer.py b/griptape/tokenizers/huggingface_tokenizer.py
index 663bd3cc0..1d861fbb3 100644
--- a/griptape/tokenizers/huggingface_tokenizer.py
+++ b/griptape/tokenizers/huggingface_tokenizer.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 from attrs import define, field, Factory
-from griptape.utils import PromptStack
+from griptape.utils import PromptStack, import_optional_dependency
 from griptape.tokenizers import BaseTokenizer
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
@@ -10,12 +10,17 @@
 
 @define()
 class HuggingFaceTokenizer(BaseTokenizer):
-    tokenizer: PreTrainedTokenizerBase = field(kw_only=True)
-    model: None = field(init=False, default=None, kw_only=True)
+    tokenizer: PreTrainedTokenizerBase = field(
+        default=Factory(
+            lambda self: import_optional_dependency("transformers").AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(self.model),
+            takes_self=True,
+        ),
+        kw_only=True,
+    )
     max_input_tokens: int = field(
         default=Factory(lambda self: self.tokenizer.model_max_length, takes_self=True), kw_only=True
     )
-    max_output_tokens: int = field(kw_only=True)  # pyright: ignore[reportGeneralTypeIssues]
+    max_output_tokens: int = field(default=4096, kw_only=True)
 
     def count_tokens(self, text: str | PromptStack) -> int:
         if isinstance(text, PromptStack):
diff --git a/tests/unit/drivers/prompt/test_openai_chat_prompt_driver.py b/tests/unit/drivers/prompt/test_openai_chat_prompt_driver.py
index 05188d7ca..5bca48dba 100644
--- a/tests/unit/drivers/prompt/test_openai_chat_prompt_driver.py
+++ b/tests/unit/drivers/prompt/test_openai_chat_prompt_driver.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from transformers import AutoTokenizer
-
 from griptape.drivers import OpenAiChatPromptDriver
 from griptape.tokenizers.huggingface_tokenizer import HuggingFaceTokenizer
 from griptape.utils import PromptStack
@@ -188,7 +186,7 @@ def test_try_run_throws_when_multiple_choices_returned(self, choices, mock_chat_
     def test_custom_tokenizer(self, mock_chat_completion_create, prompt_stack, messages):
         driver = OpenAiChatPromptDriver(
             model=OpenAiTokenizer.DEFAULT_OPENAI_GPT_3_CHAT_MODEL,
-            tokenizer=HuggingFaceTokenizer(tokenizer=AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained("gpt2"), max_output_tokens=1000),
+            tokenizer=HuggingFaceTokenizer(model="gpt2", max_output_tokens=1000),
             max_tokens=1,
         )
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/tokenizers/test_hugging_face_tokenizer.py b/tests/unit/tokenizers/test_hugging_face_tokenizer.py
index e9e323735..e4bf169a5 100644
--- a/tests/unit/tokenizers/test_hugging_face_tokenizer.py
+++ b/tests/unit/tokenizers/test_hugging_face_tokenizer.py
@@ -4,14 +4,13 @@
 
 import pytest  # noqa: E402
 from griptape.utils import PromptStack  # noqa: E402
-from transformers import GPT2Tokenizer  # noqa: E402
 from griptape.tokenizers import HuggingFaceTokenizer  # noqa: E402
 
 
 class TestHuggingFaceTokenizer:
     @pytest.fixture
     def tokenizer(self):
-        return HuggingFaceTokenizer(tokenizer=GPT2Tokenizer.from_pretrained("gpt2"), max_output_tokens=1024)
+        return HuggingFaceTokenizer(model="gpt2", max_output_tokens=1024)
 
     def test_token_count(self, tokenizer):
         assert (