diff --git a/emblem5/ai/fetch-scans.py b/emblem5/ai/fetch-scans.py
index 8e1d800..9bed66f 100755
--- a/emblem5/ai/fetch-scans.py
+++ b/emblem5/ai/fetch-scans.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class ScanDataFetcher(object):
         if sample_rate:
             fetch_backlog = random.sample(fetch_backlog, int(len(fetch_backlog) * sample_rate))
         logger.info(f'fetch_backlog: {len(fetch_backlog)}')
-        pool = mp.Pool(mp.cpu_count() * 4)
+        pool = mp.Pool(min(8, mp.cpu_count()))
         counts = defaultdict(int)
         for r in tqdm(pool.imap_unordered(self.fetch_one_scan, fetch_backlog), total=len(fetch_backlog)):
             counts[r] += 1