diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.h b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.h
index 08afdf373f014..0fcaa96ade403 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.h
@@ -110,8 +110,12 @@ struct ConvolutionDimensions {
 FailureOr<ConvolutionDimensions> inferConvolutionDims(LinalgOp linalgOp);
 
 /// Checks whether `linalgOp` conforms to ConvolutionOpInterface.
+/// By default, we require the `linalgOp` to have non-empty convolved dims
+/// (implicitly non-empty `output_image` and `filter_loop`).
+/// Users can loosen the constraint by setting `allowEmptyConvolvedDims` to true
 // TODO: embed within `isa<ConvolutionOpInterface>` if possible / natural.
-bool isaConvolutionOpInterface(LinalgOp linalgOp);
+bool isaConvolutionOpInterface(LinalgOp linalgOp,
+                               bool allowEmptyConvolvedDims = false);
 
 /// Checks whether `linalgOp` is semantically equivalent to a `linalg.copyOp`.
 bool isaCopyOpInterface(LinalgOp linalgOp);
@@ -175,9 +179,12 @@ enum class MatchConvolutionResult;
 /// Checks whether `op` conforms to ConvolutionOpInterface and populates
 /// `dimensions` with indexes of the different kinds of dimensions when
 /// present.
+/// If `allowEmptyConvolvedDims` is not set, we further checks whether the `op`
+/// contains convolved dims.
 MatchConvolutionResult
 isConvolutionInterfaceImpl(Operation *op,
-                           ConvolutionDimensions *dimensions = nullptr);
+                           ConvolutionDimensions *dimensions = nullptr,
+                           bool allowEmptyConvolvedDims = false);
 
 /// Returns the error message corresponding to the convolution checking return
 /// code.
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.cpp
index 6ee1810c2ff2b..a38b20eed3a00 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.cpp
@@ -762,13 +762,15 @@ enum class MatchConvolutionResult {
   NotProjectedPermutations,
   NonConvolutionLoop,
   OutputDimsNotParallel,
-  NonOutputDimNotReduction
+  NonOutputDimNotReduction,
+  EmptyConvolvedDims
 };
 } // namespace mlir::linalg::detail
 
 mlir::linalg::detail::MatchConvolutionResult
 mlir::linalg::detail::isConvolutionInterfaceImpl(
-    Operation *op, ConvolutionDimensions *dimensions) {
+    Operation *op, ConvolutionDimensions *dimensions,
+    bool allowEmptyConvolvedDims) {
   auto linalgOp = dyn_cast<linalg::LinalgOp>(op);
   if (!linalgOp)
     return MatchConvolutionResult::NotLinalgOp;
@@ -886,10 +888,12 @@ mlir::linalg::detail::isConvolutionInterfaceImpl(
   if (allLoopDims.size() != linalgOp.getNumLoops())
     return MatchConvolutionResult::NonConvolutionLoop;
 
+  if (!allowEmptyConvolvedDims && inputExprWalker.convolvedDims.empty())
+    return MatchConvolutionResult::EmptyConvolvedDims;
+
   if (dimensions) {
-    FailureOr<ConvolutionDimensions> res =
-        inferConvolutionDimsImpl(linalgOp, inputExprWalker,
-                                 /*allowEmptyConvolvedDims=*/true);
+    FailureOr<ConvolutionDimensions> res = inferConvolutionDimsImpl(
+        linalgOp, inputExprWalker, allowEmptyConvolvedDims);
     assert(succeeded(res) && "unexpected failure to infer convolution dims");
     *dimensions = *res;
   }
@@ -920,8 +924,10 @@ mlir::linalg::detail::getMatchConvolutionMessage(MatchConvolutionResult res) {
   llvm_unreachable("unhandled MatchConvolutionResult case");
 }
 
-bool mlir::linalg::isaConvolutionOpInterface(LinalgOp linalgOp) {
-  return linalg::detail::isConvolutionInterfaceImpl(linalgOp.getOperation()) ==
+bool mlir::linalg::isaConvolutionOpInterface(LinalgOp linalgOp,
+                                             bool allowEmptyConvolvedDims) {
+  return linalg::detail::isConvolutionInterfaceImpl(
+             linalgOp.getOperation(), nullptr, allowEmptyConvolvedDims) ==
          linalg::detail::MatchConvolutionResult::Success;
 }