diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/PyTorchResultProcessor.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/PyTorchResultProcessor.java
index 6b92a9349c4ea..4b925464d985b 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/PyTorchResultProcessor.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/PyTorchResultProcessor.java
@@ -107,17 +107,19 @@ public void process(PyTorchProcess process) {
 
                 if (result.inferenceResult() != null) {
                     processInferenceResult(result);
-                }
-                ThreadSettings threadSettings = result.threadSettings();
-                if (threadSettings != null) {
-                    threadSettingsConsumer.accept(threadSettings);
+                } else if (result.threadSettings() != null) {
+                    threadSettingsConsumer.accept(result.threadSettings());
                     processThreadSettings(result);
-                }
-                if (result.ackResult() != null) {
+                } else if (result.ackResult() != null) {
                     processAcknowledgement(result);
-                }
-                if (result.errorResult() != null) {
+                } else if (result.errorResult() != null) {
                     processErrorResult(result);
+                } else {
+                    // will should only get here if the native process
+                    // has produced a partially valid result, one that
+                    // is accepted by the parser but does not have any
+                    // content
+                    handleUnknownResultType(result);
                 }
             }
         } catch (Exception e) {
@@ -208,6 +210,26 @@ void processErrorResult(PyTorchResult result) {
         }
     }
 
+    void handleUnknownResultType(PyTorchResult result) {
+        if (result.requestId() != null) {
+            PendingResult pendingResult = pendingResults.remove(result.requestId());
+            if (pendingResult == null) {
+                logger.error(() -> format("[%s] no pending result listener for unknown result type [%s]", modelId, result));
+            } else {
+                String msg = format("[%s] pending result listener cannot handle unknown result type [%s]", modelId, result);
+                logger.error(msg);
+                var errorResult = new ErrorResult(msg);
+                pendingResult.listener.onResponse(new PyTorchResult(result.requestId(), null, null, null, null, null, errorResult));
+            }
+        } else {
+            // Cannot look up the listener without a request id
+            // all that can be done in this case is log a message.
+            // The result parser requires a request id so this
+            // code should not be hit.
+            logger.error(() -> format("[%s] cannot process unknown result type [%s]", modelId, result));
+        }
+    }
+
     public synchronized ResultStats getResultStats() {
         long currentMs = currentTimeMsSupplier.getAsLong();
         long currentPeriodStartTimeMs = startTime + Intervals.alignToFloor(currentMs - startTime, REPORTING_PERIOD_MS);
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/PyTorchResultProcessorTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/PyTorchResultProcessorTests.java
index e172f4ffb528c..860da3140f4fe 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/PyTorchResultProcessorTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/PyTorchResultProcessorTests.java
@@ -153,6 +153,23 @@ public void testPendingRequestAreCalledAtShutdown() {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testsHandleUnknownResult() {
+        var processor = new PyTorchResultProcessor("deployment-foo", settings -> {});
+        var listener = new AssertingResultListener(
+            r -> assertThat(
+                r.errorResult().error(),
+                containsString("[deployment-foo] pending result listener cannot handle unknown result type")
+            )
+        );
+
+        processor.registerRequest("no-result-content", listener);
+
+        processor.process(
+            mockNativeProcess(List.of(new PyTorchResult("no-result-content", null, null, null, null, null, null)).iterator())
+        );
+        assertTrue(listener.hasResponse);
+    }
+
     private static class AssertingResultListener implements ActionListener<PyTorchResult> {
         boolean hasResponse;
         final Consumer<PyTorchResult> responseAsserter;