diff --git a/features/conversation-assistant/ml-service/src/main.py b/features/conversation-assistant/ml-service/src/main.py
index 61fe376e9..7de78a7df 100755
--- a/features/conversation-assistant/ml-service/src/main.py
+++ b/features/conversation-assistant/ml-service/src/main.py
@@ -348,8 +348,15 @@ async def create_app():
         ),
     )
 
-# Initialize app at module level for uvicorn string loading
-app = asyncio.run(create_app())
+# Initialize app at module level for uvicorn string loading.
+# asyncio.run() fails when uvicorn already has a running event loop (uvloop),
+# so fall back to a temporary loop for synchronous module-level initialization.
+try:
+    app = asyncio.run(create_app())
+except RuntimeError:
+    _loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
+    app = _loop.run_until_complete(create_app())
+    _loop.close()
 
 # Apply logging route class to all routes
 app.router.route_class = LoggingRoute