diff --git a/src/axolotl/cli/__init__.py b/src/axolotl/cli/__init__.py
index 15902516d..a68377f07 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/cli/__init__.py
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ from transformers import GenerationConfig, TextIteratorStreamer, TextStreamer
 from axolotl.common.cli import TrainerCliArgs, load_model_and_tokenizer
 from axolotl.logging_config import configure_logging
 from axolotl.train import TrainDatasetMeta
-from axolotl.utils.config import normalize_config, validate_config
+from axolotl.utils.config import (
+    normalize_cfg_datasets,
+    normalize_config,
+    validate_config,
+)
 from axolotl.utils.data import prepare_dataset
 from axolotl.utils.dict import DictDefault
 from axolotl.utils.distributed import is_main_process
@@ -289,6 +293,8 @@ def load_cfg(config: Path = Path("examples/"), **kwargs):
 
     normalize_config(cfg)
 
+    normalize_cfg_datasets(cfg)
+
     setup_wandb_env_vars(cfg)
 
     setup_mlflow_env_vars(cfg)
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/config.py b/src/axolotl/utils/config.py
index 9a69184d8..f88490383 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/config.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/config.py
@@ -150,6 +150,21 @@ def normalize_config(cfg):
     log_gpu_memory_usage(LOG, "baseline", cfg.device)
 
 
+def normalize_cfg_datasets(cfg):
+    """
+    helpers for mapping chat_template to various dataset configurations as necessary
+    """
+
+    if cfg.chat_template and cfg.chat_template == "chatml":
+        if cfg.datasets:
+            for idx, ds_cfg in enumerate(cfg.datasets):
+                if ds_cfg.type == "sharegpt" and not ds_cfg.conversation:
+                    LOG.info(
+                        f"updating dataset {ds_cfg.path} with `conversation: chatml` to match your chat_template"
+                    )
+                    cfg.datasets[idx].conversation = "chatml"
+
+
 def validate_config(cfg):
     """
     This is a "pre-validation" step that handles the yaml configuration before we have any
diff --git a/tests/test_normalize_config.py b/tests/test_normalize_config.py
index 1397b23af..004d0068e 100644
--- a/tests/test_normalize_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_normalize_config.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Test classes for checking functionality of the cfg normalization
 """
 import unittest
 
-from axolotl.utils.config import normalize_config
+from axolotl.utils.config import normalize_cfg_datasets, normalize_config
 from axolotl.utils.dict import DictDefault
 
 
@@ -44,3 +44,26 @@ class NormalizeConfigTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         normalize_config(cfg)
 
         assert cfg.base_model_config == cfg.base_model
+
+    def test_chat_template_chatml(self):
+        cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "chat_template": "chatml",
+                "datasets": [
+                    {
+                        "path": "lorem/ipsum",
+                        "type": "sharegpt",
+                        "conversation": "vicuna_v1.1",
+                    },
+                    {
+                        "path": "sit/amet",
+                        "type": "sharegpt",
+                    },
+                ],
+            }
+        )
+
+        normalize_cfg_datasets(cfg)
+
+        assert cfg.datasets[0].conversation == "vicuna_v1.1"
+        assert cfg.datasets[1].conversation == "chatml"