diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/ConsumerConfig.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/ConsumerConfig.java
index fb4c05062bb9f..ca0b74291fe4c 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/ConsumerConfig.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/ConsumerConfig.java
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ public class ConsumerConfig extends AbstractConfig {
             " subscribing to or assigning a topic. A topic being subscribed to will be automatically created only if the" +
             " broker allows for it using `auto.create.topics.enable` broker configuration. This configuration must" +
             " be set to `true` when using brokers older than 0.11.0";
-    public static final boolean DEFAULT_ALLOW_AUTO_CREATE_TOPICS = true;
+    public static final boolean DEFAULT_ALLOW_AUTO_CREATE_TOPICS = false;
 
     /**
      * <code>security.providers</code>