diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/module-info.java b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/module-info.java
index 2d25a48117778..ddd56c758d67c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/module-info.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/module-info.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
     requires org.apache.httpcomponents.httpasyncclient;
     requires org.apache.httpcomponents.httpcore.nio;
     requires org.apache.lucene.core;
+    requires org.elasticsearch.logging;
 
     exports org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.action;
     exports org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.registry;
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/InferencePlugin.java b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/InferencePlugin.java
index 4e44929e7ba9b..a83f8bb5f9b5b 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/InferencePlugin.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/InferencePlugin.java
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.core.IOUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.features.NodeFeature;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.Mapper;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.MetadataFieldMapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.SystemIndexDescriptor;
 import org.elasticsearch.inference.InferenceServiceExtension;
 import org.elasticsearch.inference.InferenceServiceRegistry;
@@ -29,6 +31,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.ActionPlugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.ExtensiblePlugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.InferenceRegistryPlugin;
+import org.elasticsearch.plugins.MapperPlugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.SystemIndexPlugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestController;
@@ -52,6 +55,8 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.external.http.retry.RetrySettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.external.http.sender.HttpRequestSenderFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.logging.ThrottlerManager;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.mapper.SemanticTextFieldMapper;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.mapper.SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.registry.ModelRegistryImpl;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.rest.RestDeleteInferenceModelAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.rest.RestGetInferenceModelAction;
@@ -67,12 +72,19 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.function.Predicate;
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
-public class InferencePlugin extends Plugin implements ActionPlugin, ExtensiblePlugin, SystemIndexPlugin, InferenceRegistryPlugin {
+public class InferencePlugin extends Plugin
+    implements
+        ActionPlugin,
+        ExtensiblePlugin,
+        SystemIndexPlugin,
+        InferenceRegistryPlugin,
+        MapperPlugin {
 
     public static final String NAME = "inference";
     public static final String UTILITY_THREAD_POOL_NAME = "inference_utility";
@@ -254,4 +266,17 @@ public InferenceServiceRegistry getInferenceServiceRegistry() {
     public ModelRegistry getModelRegistry() {
         return modelRegistry.get();
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public Map<String, Mapper.TypeParser> getMappers() {
+        if (SemanticTextFeature.isEnabled()) {
+            return Map.of(SemanticTextFieldMapper.CONTENT_TYPE, SemanticTextFieldMapper.PARSER);
+        }
+        return Map.of();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Map<String, MetadataFieldMapper.TypeParser> getMetadataMappers() {
+        return Map.of(SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper.NAME, SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper.PARSER);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/SemanticTextFeature.java b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/SemanticTextFeature.java
similarity index 93%
rename from x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/SemanticTextFeature.java
rename to x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/SemanticTextFeature.java
index f861760803e56..4f2c5c564bcb8 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/SemanticTextFeature.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/SemanticTextFeature.java
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  * 2.0.
  */
 
-package org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml;
+package org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.FeatureFlag;
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapper.java b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapper.java
similarity index 98%
rename from x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapper.java
rename to x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapper.java
index 9546bc4ba9add..027b85a9a9f45 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapper.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapper.java
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  * 2.0.
  */
 
-package org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.mapper;
+package org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.mapper;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper.java b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper.java
similarity index 99%
rename from x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper.java
rename to x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper.java
index ff224522034bf..5dda6ae3781ab 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper.java
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  * 2.0.
  */
 
-package org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.mapper;
+package org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.mapper;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/SemanticTextClusterMetadataTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/SemanticTextClusterMetadataTests.java
similarity index 87%
rename from x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/SemanticTextClusterMetadataTests.java
rename to x-pack/plugin/inference/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/SemanticTextClusterMetadataTests.java
index 47cae14003c70..69fa64ffa6d1c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/SemanticTextClusterMetadataTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/SemanticTextClusterMetadataTests.java
@@ -13,14 +13,23 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.ClusterStateTaskExecutorUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.Index;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexService;
-import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.MlSingleNodeTestCase;
+import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESSingleNodeTestCase;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.InferencePlugin;
 
+import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 
-public class SemanticTextClusterMetadataTests extends MlSingleNodeTestCase {
+public class SemanticTextClusterMetadataTests extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
+
+    @Override
+    protected Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> getPlugins() {
+        return List.of(InferencePlugin.class);
+    }
+
     public void testCreateIndexWithSemanticTextField() {
         final IndexService indexService = createIndex(
             "test",
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapperTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapperTests.java
similarity index 96%
rename from x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapperTests.java
rename to x-pack/plugin/inference/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapperTests.java
index ccb8f106e4945..a3a705c9cc902 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapperTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextFieldMapperTests.java
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  * 2.0.
  */
 
-package org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.mapper;
+package org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.mapper;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexableField;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.ParsedDocument;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
-import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.MachineLearning;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.InferencePlugin;
 import org.junit.AssumptionViolatedException;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ public void testUpdatesToModelIdNotSupported() throws IOException {
 
     @Override
     protected Collection<? extends Plugin> getPlugins() {
-        return singletonList(new MachineLearning(Settings.EMPTY));
+        return singletonList(new InferencePlugin(Settings.EMPTY));
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapperTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapperTests.java
similarity index 98%
rename from x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapperTests.java
rename to x-pack/plugin/inference/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapperTests.java
index bde6da7fe8277..7f13d34986482 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapperTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/inference/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/inference/mapper/SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapperTests.java
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  * 2.0.
  */
 
-package org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.mapper;
+package org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.mapper;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanClause;
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchHit;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.inference.results.SparseEmbeddingResults;
-import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.MachineLearning;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.inference.InferencePlugin;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ protected boolean isConfigurable() {
 
     @Override
     protected boolean isSupportedOn(IndexVersion version) {
-        return version.onOrAfter(IndexVersions.ES_VERSION_8_13); // TODO: Switch to ES_VERSION_8_14 when available
+        return version.onOrAfter(IndexVersions.ES_VERSION_8_12_1); // TODO: Switch to ES_VERSION_8_14 when available
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ protected void registerParameters(ParameterChecker checker) throws IOException {
 
     @Override
     protected Collection<? extends Plugin> getPlugins() {
-        return List.of(new MachineLearning(Settings.EMPTY));
+        return List.of(new InferencePlugin(Settings.EMPTY));
     }
 
     public void testSuccessfulParse() throws IOException {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/MachineLearning.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/MachineLearning.java
index 10b2ed089d632..70a3b9bab49f1 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/MachineLearning.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/MachineLearning.java
@@ -49,8 +49,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.features.NodeFeature;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.analysis.CharFilterFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.analysis.TokenizerFactory;
-import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.Mapper;
-import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.MetadataFieldMapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.AssociatedIndexDescriptor;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.SystemIndexDescriptor;
@@ -70,7 +68,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.CircuitBreakerPlugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.ExtensiblePlugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.IngestPlugin;
-import org.elasticsearch.plugins.MapperPlugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.PersistentTaskPlugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Platforms;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
@@ -366,8 +363,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.job.process.normalizer.NormalizerProcessFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.job.snapshot.upgrader.SnapshotUpgradeTaskExecutor;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.job.task.OpenJobPersistentTasksExecutor;
-import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.mapper.SemanticTextFieldMapper;
-import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.mapper.SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.notifications.AnomalyDetectionAuditor;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.notifications.DataFrameAnalyticsAuditor;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.notifications.InferenceAuditor;
@@ -487,8 +482,7 @@ public class MachineLearning extends Plugin
         PersistentTaskPlugin,
         SearchPlugin,
         ShutdownAwarePlugin,
-        ExtensiblePlugin,
-        MapperPlugin {
+        ExtensiblePlugin {
     public static final String NAME = "ml";
     public static final String BASE_PATH = "/_ml/";
     // Endpoints that were deprecated in 7.x can still be called in 8.x using the REST compatibility layer
@@ -2298,17 +2292,4 @@ public void signalShutdown(Collection<String> shutdownNodeIds) {
             mlLifeCycleService.get().signalGracefulShutdown(shutdownNodeIds);
         }
     }
-
-    @Override
-    public Map<String, Mapper.TypeParser> getMappers() {
-        if (SemanticTextFeature.isEnabled()) {
-            return Map.of(SemanticTextFieldMapper.CONTENT_TYPE, SemanticTextFieldMapper.PARSER);
-        }
-        return Map.of();
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public Map<String, MetadataFieldMapper.TypeParser> getMetadataMappers() {
-        return Map.of(SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper.NAME, SemanticTextInferenceResultFieldMapper.PARSER);
-    }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/LocalStateMachineLearning.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/LocalStateMachineLearning.java
index 5af3fd527e31e..2d7832d747de4 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/LocalStateMachineLearning.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/LocalStateMachineLearning.java
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.analysis.CharFilterFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.analysis.TokenizerFactory;
-import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.Mapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.analysis.AnalysisModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.license.LicenseService;
 import org.elasticsearch.license.XPackLicenseState;
@@ -103,11 +102,6 @@ public Map<String, AnalysisModule.AnalysisProvider<TokenizerFactory>> getTokeniz
         return mlPlugin.getTokenizers();
     }
 
-    @Override
-    public Map<String, Mapper.TypeParser> getMappers() {
-        return mlPlugin.getMappers();
-    }
-
     /**
      * This is only required as we now have to have the GetRollupIndexCapsAction as a valid action in our node.
      * The MachineLearningLicenseTests attempt to create a datafeed referencing this LocalStateMachineLearning object.