diff --git a/src/backend/backend.jl b/src/backend/backend.jl
index 104272bf..372148f9 100644
--- a/src/backend/backend.jl
+++ b/src/backend/backend.jl
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
-# TODO: load backends lazily
-
-include("tensorflow/tensorflow.jl")
-using .TF
 export tf
+
+function loadtf()
+  isdefined(Flux, :TF) && return
+  @eval include(joinpath(dirname($@__FILE__), "tensorflow/tensorflow.jl"))
+end
+
+function tf(args...)
+  loadtf()
+  TF.tf(args...)
+end