diff --git a/src/semble/index/dense.py b/src/semble/index/dense.py
index f7f91e2a..ada1f875 100644
--- a/src/semble/index/dense.py
+++ b/src/semble/index/dense.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import logging
 from functools import cache
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -15,11 +16,17 @@
 from semble.utils import resolve_model_name
 
 
+def _drop_unauthenticated_warning(record: logging.LogRecord) -> bool:
+    """Drop the Hub's unauthenticated-request warning; the public model downloads fine without a token."""
+    return "unauthenticated requests" not in record.getMessage()
+
+
 @cache
 def _load_cached(model_path: str) -> StaticModel:
     """Load a model and cache it, but only after the path resolves."""
     # Disable HF progress bars since the model is loaded silently in the background during indexing.
     disable_progress_bars()
+    logging.getLogger("huggingface_hub.utils._http").addFilter(_drop_unauthenticated_warning)
     try:
         try:
             model = StaticModel.from_pretrained(model_path, force_download=False)
diff --git a/tests/test_search.py b/tests/test_search.py
index fa3d3bd1..d17a7d8e 100644
--- a/tests/test_search.py
+++ b/tests/test_search.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import logging
 from typing import Any
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, call, patch
 
@@ -159,6 +160,28 @@ def test_load_model(model_path: str | None, expected_call_arg: str, incomplete_c
     assert mock_fp.call_args_list == expected_calls
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("message", "shown"),
+    [
+        (
+            "Warning: You are sending unauthenticated requests to the HF Hub. "
+            "Please set a HF_TOKEN to enable higher rate limits and faster downloads.",
+            False,
+        ),
+        ("Rate limited. Waiting 1s before retry [Retry 1/5].", True),
+        ("Your HF_TOKEN expires soon.", True),
+    ],
+)
+def test_load_model_hides_only_unauthenticated_warning(
+    caplog: pytest.LogCaptureFixture, message: str, shown: bool
+) -> None:
+    """Loading the model hides the Hub's unauthenticated-request nag but keeps other Hub warnings."""
+    with patch("semble.index.dense.StaticModel.from_pretrained"):
+        load_model(f"filter/test-{shown}")
+    logging.getLogger("huggingface_hub.utils._http").warning(message)
+    assert (message in caplog.text) is shown
+
+
 def test_embed_chunks_empty_returns_empty_array(mock_model: Any) -> None:
     """embed_chunks with an empty list returns a (0, 256) float32 array."""
     result = embed_chunks(mock_model, [])