diff --git a/.idea/vcs.xml b/.idea/vcs.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94a25f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.idea/vcs.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project version="4">
+  <component name="VcsDirectoryMappings">
+    <mapping directory="$PROJECT_DIR$" vcs="Git" />
+  </component>
+</project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pyrec/implicit/als.py b/pyrec/implicit/als.py
index 5622229..80de1ba 100644
--- a/pyrec/implicit/als.py
+++ b/pyrec/implicit/als.py
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def save(self, base_name, user_factors=False, compress=False):
 
 def load_recommender(als_model_file: str, index_file: str, item_feature_file: str = None, **kwargs) -> ImplicitRecommender:
     log.info("Loading als model")
-    data = np.load(als_model_file)
+    data = np.load(als_model_file, allow_pickle=True)
     model = AlternatingLeastSquares(factors=data['model.item_factors'].shape[1])
     model.item_factors = data['model.item_factors']
     model.YtY  # This will initialize the _YtY instance variable which is used directly in internal methods