diff --git a/frigate/config/classification.py b/frigate/config/classification.py
index fb8e3de29..7dba854ca 100644
--- a/frigate/config/classification.py
+++ b/frigate/config/classification.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from enum import Enum
-from typing import Dict, List, Optional
+from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Union
 
 from pydantic import ConfigDict, Field
 
@@ -128,9 +128,10 @@ class SemanticSearchConfig(FrigateBaseModel):
     reindex: Optional[bool] = Field(
         default=False, title="Reindex all tracked objects on startup."
     )
-    model: Optional[SemanticSearchModelEnum] = Field(
+    model: Optional[Union[SemanticSearchModelEnum, str]] = Field(
         default=SemanticSearchModelEnum.jinav1,
-        title="The CLIP model to use for semantic search.",
+        title="The CLIP model or GenAI provider name for semantic search.",
+        description="Use 'jinav1', 'jinav2' for ONNX models, or a GenAI config key (e.g. 'default') when that provider has the embeddings role.",
     )
     model_size: str = Field(
         default="small", title="The size of the embeddings model used."
diff --git a/frigate/config/config.py b/frigate/config/config.py
index e31e3d8c8..b741d6ae2 100644
--- a/frigate/config/config.py
+++ b/frigate/config/config.py
@@ -443,6 +443,22 @@ class FrigateConfig(FrigateBaseModel):
                     )
                 role_to_name[role] = name
 
+        # validate semantic_search.model when it is a GenAI provider name
+        if self.semantic_search.enabled and isinstance(
+            self.semantic_search.model, str
+        ):
+            if self.semantic_search.model not in self.genai:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f"semantic_search.model '{self.semantic_search.model}' is not a "
+                    "valid GenAI config key. Must match a key in genai config."
+                )
+            genai_cfg = self.genai[self.semantic_search.model]
+            if GenAIRoleEnum.embeddings not in genai_cfg.roles:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f"GenAI provider '{self.semantic_search.model}' must have "
+                    "'embeddings' in its roles for semantic search."
+                )
+
         # set default min_score for object attributes
         for attribute in self.model.all_attributes:
             if not self.objects.filters.get(attribute):