diff --git a/utils/auto_annotation/run_model.py b/utils/auto_annotation/run_model.py
index 8aedf1c5cfca9dbb38f6177d6b1b78a01ddaa928..d45ce594af4cdea6ca3c10896c51bca0e90ccdff 100644
--- a/utils/auto_annotation/run_model.py
+++ b/utils/auto_annotation/run_model.py
@@ -70,7 +70,11 @@ def main():
         return
 
     with open(mapping_file) as json_file:
-        mapping = json.load(json_file)
+        try:
+            mapping = json.load(json_file)
+        except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
+            logging.critical('JSON file not able to be parsed! Check file')
+            return
 
     try:
         mapping = mapping['label_map']