diff --git a/src/Aspire.Dashboard/Model/GenAI/GenAIVisualizerDialogViewModel.cs b/src/Aspire.Dashboard/Model/GenAI/GenAIVisualizerDialogViewModel.cs
index b1a8c5dc4ac..3f3e23eae57 100644
--- a/src/Aspire.Dashboard/Model/GenAI/GenAIVisualizerDialogViewModel.cs
+++ b/src/Aspire.Dashboard/Model/GenAI/GenAIVisualizerDialogViewModel.cs
@@ -191,8 +191,8 @@ private static void CreateMessages(GenAIVisualizerDialogViewModel viewModel, Tel
         // Attempt get get messages from span events.
         foreach (var item in viewModel.Span.Events.OrderBy(i => i.Time))
         {
-            if (GenAIHelpers.IsGenAISpan(item.Attributes) &&
-                TryMapEventName(item.Name, out var type))
+            // Detect GenAI messages by event name. Don't check for the gen_ai.system attribute because it's optional on events.
+            if (TryMapEventName(item.Name, out var type))
             {
                 var content = item.Attributes.GetValue(GenAIHelpers.GenAIEventContent);
                 var parts = content != null ? DeserializeBody(type.Value, content) : [];
diff --git a/tests/Aspire.Dashboard.Tests/Model/GenAIVisualizerDialogViewModelTests.cs b/tests/Aspire.Dashboard.Tests/Model/GenAIVisualizerDialogViewModelTests.cs
index a8d4255c106..f38a4fe888b 100644
--- a/tests/Aspire.Dashboard.Tests/Model/GenAIVisualizerDialogViewModelTests.cs
+++ b/tests/Aspire.Dashboard.Tests/Model/GenAIVisualizerDialogViewModelTests.cs
@@ -239,6 +239,12 @@ public void Create_GenAISpanEvents_HasMessages()
             CreateSpanEvent(
                 name: "gen_ai.assistant.message",
                 startTime: 2,
+                attributes: [
+                    KeyValuePair.Create(GenAIHelpers.GenAIEventContent, JsonSerializer.Serialize(new AssistantEvent { Content = "Assistant!" }, GenAIEventsContext.Default.AssistantEvent)),
+                ]),
+            CreateSpanEvent(
+                name: "other_name_that_is_ignored",
+                startTime: 3,
                 attributes: [
                     KeyValuePair.Create(GenAIHelpers.GenAIEventContent, JsonSerializer.Serialize(new AssistantEvent { Content = "Assistant!" }, GenAIEventsContext.Default.AssistantEvent)),
                     KeyValuePair.Create(GenAIHelpers.GenAISystem, "System!"),