diff --git a/examples/seq2seq/distillation.py b/examples/seq2seq/distillation.py
index 9cf6cbd818..67e695ef99 100644
--- a/examples/seq2seq/distillation.py
+++ b/examples/seq2seq/distillation.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ from torch import nn
 from torch.nn import functional as F
 
 from lightning_base import generic_train
-from transformers import BartConfig, BartForConditionalGeneration, MBartTokenizer, T5Config, T5ForConditionalGeneration
+from transformers import AutoModelForSeq2SeqLM, MBartTokenizer, T5Config, T5ForConditionalGeneration
 
 
 try:
@@ -74,22 +74,22 @@ class BartSummarizationDistiller(SummarizationModule):
     def pre_init(self, hparams):
         self.output_dir = Path(hparams.output_dir)
         self.output_dir.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
-        teacher = BartForConditionalGeneration.from_pretrained(hparams.teacher).eval()
+        teacher = AutoModelForSeq2SeqLM.from_pretrained(hparams.teacher).eval()
         student_updates = {
             "decoder_layers": hparams.student_decoder_layers,
             "encoder_layers": hparams.student_encoder_layers,
         }
         if hparams.length_penalty != -1:
             student_updates["length_penalty"] = hparams.length_penalty
-        d_layers_to_copy = get_layers_to_copy(student_updates["decoder_layers"], teacher.config.decoder_layers)
+        d_layers_to_copy: List = get_layers_to_copy(student_updates["decoder_layers"], teacher.config.decoder_layers)
         e_layers_to_copy: List = get_layers_to_copy(student_updates["encoder_layers"], teacher.config.encoder_layers)
         hparams.d_layer_to_copy = d_layers_to_copy
         hparams.e_layer_to_copy = e_layers_to_copy
         kw = teacher.config.to_diff_dict()
         kw.update(student_updates)
         # Copy weights
-        student_cfg = BartConfig(**kw)
-        student = BartForConditionalGeneration(student_cfg)
+        student_cfg = teacher.config_class(**kw)
+        student = type(teacher)(student_cfg)
         student, _ = init_student(student, teacher)
         save_dir = self.output_dir.joinpath("student")
         self.copy_to_student(d_layers_to_copy, e_layers_to_copy, hparams, student, teacher)
@@ -252,7 +252,6 @@ class BartTranslationDistiller(BartSummarizationDistiller):
 
     def __init__(self, hparams, **kwargs):
         super().__init__(hparams, **kwargs)
-        assert isinstance(self.tokenizer, MBartTokenizer)
         assert hparams.src_lang is not None
         assert hparams.tgt_lang is not None
         self.dataset_kwargs["src_lang"] = hparams.src_lang
diff --git a/examples/seq2seq/test_seq2seq_examples.py b/examples/seq2seq/test_seq2seq_examples.py
index 1f70cbd312..2f397c7adc 100644
--- a/examples/seq2seq/test_seq2seq_examples.py
+++ b/examples/seq2seq/test_seq2seq_examples.py
@@ -186,6 +186,7 @@ class TestSummarizationDistiller(unittest.TestCase):
             tgt_lang="ro_RO",
         )
         model = self._test_distiller_cli(updates, check_contents=False)
+        assert model.model.config.model_type == "mbart"
 
         ckpts = list(Path(model.output_dir).glob("*.ckpt"))
         self.assertEqual(1, len(ckpts))