diff --git a/src/pytorch_ie/pipeline.py b/src/pytorch_ie/pipeline.py
index 72caccc6..e80d2658 100644
--- a/src/pytorch_ie/pipeline.py
+++ b/src/pytorch_ie/pipeline.py
@@ -49,13 +49,15 @@ def __init__(
         self,
         model: PyTorchIEModel,
         taskmodule: TaskModule,
-        # args_parser: ArgumentHandler = None,
-        device: int = -1,
+        device: Union[int, str] = "cpu",
         binary_output: bool = False,
         **kwargs,
     ):
         self.taskmodule = taskmodule
-        self.device = torch.device("cpu" if device < 0 else f"cuda:{device}")
+        device_str = (
+            ("cpu" if device < 0 else f"cuda:{device}") if isinstance(device, int) else device
+        )
+        self.device = torch.device(device_str)
         self.binary_output = binary_output
 
         # Module.to() returns just self, but moved to the device. This is not correctly
@@ -324,13 +326,6 @@ def __call__(
         forward_params = {**self._forward_params, **forward_params}
         postprocess_params = {**self._postprocess_params, **postprocess_params}
 
-        self.call_count += 1
-        if self.call_count > 10 and self.device.type == "cuda":
-            warnings.warn(
-                "You seem to be using the pipelines sequentially on GPU. In order to maximize efficiency please use a dataset",
-                UserWarning,
-            )
-
         single_document = False
         if isinstance(documents, Document):
             single_document = True