diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-sycl/ggml-sycl.cpp b/ggml/src/ggml-sycl/ggml-sycl.cpp
index f4b68333..9fa24b98 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-sycl/ggml-sycl.cpp
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-sycl/ggml-sycl.cpp
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ static void ggml_check_sycl() try {
 
     if (!initialized) {
         g_ggml_sycl_debug = get_sycl_env("GGML_SYCL_DEBUG", 0);
-        g_ggml_sycl_disable_optimize= get_sycl_env("GGML_SYCL_DISABLE_OPT", 0);
+        g_ggml_sycl_disable_optimize= get_sycl_env("GGML_SYCL_DISABLE_OPT", 1);
         g_ggml_sycl_disable_graph = get_sycl_env("GGML_SYCL_DISABLE_GRAPH", 1);
         GGML_SYCL_DEBUG("[SYCL] call ggml_check_sycl\n");
         GGML_LOG_INFO("Running with Environment Variables:\n");