diff --git a/examples/simple-chat/simple-chat.cpp b/examples/simple-chat/simple-chat.cpp
index 97e9dc9842..30a0966e07 100644
--- a/examples/simple-chat/simple-chat.cpp
+++ b/examples/simple-chat/simple-chat.cpp
@@ -65,8 +65,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
         }
     }, nullptr);
 
-    // load dynamic backends
-    ggml_backend_load_all();
+    llama_backend_init();
 
     // initialize the model
     llama_model_params model_params = llama_model_default_params();
diff --git a/examples/simple/simple.cpp b/examples/simple/simple.cpp
index 9f0a25d713..982a4d8600 100644
--- a/examples/simple/simple.cpp
+++ b/examples/simple/simple.cpp
@@ -77,9 +77,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
         }
     }
 
-    // load dynamic backends
-
-    ggml_backend_load_all();
+    llama_backend_init();
 
     // initialize the model
 
diff --git a/include/llama.h b/include/llama.h
index e808fa9ec1..dea4d46062 100644
--- a/include/llama.h
+++ b/include/llama.h
@@ -489,6 +489,7 @@ extern "C" {
     LLAMA_API void llama_backend_free(void);
 
     // Optional: enable numa optimizations
+    // TODO: deprecate and make part of llama_backend_init()
     LLAMA_API void llama_numa_init(enum ggml_numa_strategy numa);
 
     // Optional: an auto threadpool gets created in ggml if not passed explicitly
diff --git a/tests/test-fusion.cpp b/tests/test-fusion.cpp
index 467248f0f1..65d444ecf4 100644
--- a/tests/test-fusion.cpp
+++ b/tests/test-fusion.cpp
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
     }
 
     common_init();
-    ggml_backend_load_all();
+    llama_backend_init();
 
     ggml_backend_dev_t dev = ggml_backend_dev_by_name(device_name.c_str());
     if (!dev) {
diff --git a/tools/cli/cli.cpp b/tools/cli/cli.cpp
index dcdb6aeac2..92c86614f8 100644
--- a/tools/cli/cli.cpp
+++ b/tools/cli/cli.cpp
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ int llama_cli(int argc, char ** argv) {
         return 1;
     }
 
+    llama_backend_init();
+    llama_numa_init(params.numa);
+
 #if defined (__unix__) || (defined (__APPLE__) && defined (__MACH__))
     struct sigaction sigint_action;
     sigint_action.sa_handler = signal_handler;