diff --git a/api/v1alpha1/inferencemodel_types.go b/api/v1alpha1/inferencemodel_types.go
index 3414b797..766ecfef 100644
--- a/api/v1alpha1/inferencemodel_types.go
+++ b/api/v1alpha1/inferencemodel_types.go
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ type InferenceModelSpec struct {
 	// Reference to the inference pool, the pool must exist in the same namespace.
 	//
 	// +kubebuilder:validation:Required
-	PoolRef *PoolObjectReference `json:"poolRef,omitempty"`
+	PoolRef PoolObjectReference `json:"poolRef"`
 }
 
 // PoolObjectReference identifies an API object within the namespace of the
diff --git a/api/v1alpha1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go b/api/v1alpha1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
index fd866b35..4f17fbd0 100644
--- a/api/v1alpha1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
+++ b/api/v1alpha1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
@@ -97,11 +97,7 @@ func (in *InferenceModelSpec) DeepCopyInto(out *InferenceModelSpec) {
 		*out = make([]TargetModel, len(*in))
 		copy(*out, *in)
 	}
-	if in.PoolRef != nil {
-		in, out := &in.PoolRef, &out.PoolRef
-		*out = new(PoolObjectReference)
-		**out = **in
-	}
+	out.PoolRef = in.PoolRef
 }
 
 // DeepCopy is an autogenerated deepcopy function, copying the receiver, creating a new InferenceModelSpec.