diff --git a/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/CodeGen/search-space-schema.json b/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/CodeGen/search-space-schema.json
index 5d28914734..0ccb7b1fcf 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/CodeGen/search-space-schema.json
+++ b/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/CodeGen/search-space-schema.json
@@ -46,6 +46,26 @@
         "BertArchitecture.Roberta"
       ]
     },
+    "dataKind": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "enum": [
+        "DataKind.Int16",
+        "DataKind.SByte",
+        "DataKind.Byte",
+        "DataKind.UInt16",
+        "DataKind.Int32",
+        "DataKind.UInt32",
+        "DataKind.Int64",
+        "DataKind.UInt64",
+        "DataKind.Single",
+        "DataKind.Double",
+        "DataKind.String",
+        "DataKind.Boolean",
+        "DataKind.TimeSpan",
+        "DataKind.DateTime",
+        "DataKind.DateTimeOffset"
+      ]
+    },
     "bertArchitectureArray": {
       "type": "array",
       "items": {
@@ -217,7 +237,8 @@
         "TrainingAnswerColumnName",
         "AnswerIndexStartColumnName",
         "predictedAnswerColumnName",
-        "TopKAnswers"
+        "TopKAnswers",
+        "TargetType"
       ]
     },
     "option_type": {
@@ -235,7 +256,8 @@
         "anchor",
         "dnnModelFactory",
         "bertArchitecture",
-        "imageClassificationArchType"
+        "imageClassificationArchType",
+        "dataKind"
       ]
     }
   },
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/CodeGen/type_converter_search_space.json b/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/CodeGen/type_converter_search_space.json
index d91293b857..38d860e9c4 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/CodeGen/type_converter_search_space.json
+++ b/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/CodeGen/type_converter_search_space.json
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@
     {
       "name": "InputColumnNames",
       "type": "strings"
+    },
+    {
+      "name": "TargetType",
+      "type": "dataKind",
+      "default": "DataKind.Single"
     }
   ]
 }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/SweepableEstimator/Estimators/TypeConvert.cs b/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/SweepableEstimator/Estimators/TypeConvert.cs
index f5e567baa0..795064a2c9 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/SweepableEstimator/Estimators/TypeConvert.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.ML.AutoML/SweepableEstimator/Estimators/TypeConvert.cs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ internal partial class ConvertType
         public override IEstimator<ITransformer> BuildFromOption(MLContext context, ConvertTypeOption param)
         {
             var inputOutputPairs = AutoMlUtils.CreateInputOutputColumnPairsFromStrings(param.InputColumnNames, param.OutputColumnNames);
-            return context.Transforms.Conversion.ConvertType(inputOutputPairs);
+            return context.Transforms.Conversion.ConvertType(inputOutputPairs, param.TargetType);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.Tests/ApprovalTests/AutoFeaturizerTests.AutoFeaturizer_creditapproval_test.approved.txt b/test/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.Tests/ApprovalTests/AutoFeaturizerTests.AutoFeaturizer_creditapproval_test.approved.txt
index c2bea3ba98..37287a9664 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.Tests/ApprovalTests/AutoFeaturizerTests.AutoFeaturizer_creditapproval_test.approved.txt
+++ b/test/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.Tests/ApprovalTests/AutoFeaturizerTests.AutoFeaturizer_creditapproval_test.approved.txt
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@
         ],
         "InputColumnNames": [
           "BooleanFeatures"
-        ]
+        ],
+        "TargetType": "Single"
       }
     },
     "e2": {
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.Tests/ApprovalTests/AutoFeaturizerTests.AutoFeaturizer_newspaperchurn_test.approved.txt b/test/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.Tests/ApprovalTests/AutoFeaturizerTests.AutoFeaturizer_newspaperchurn_test.approved.txt
index fe234e918c..d85e26c72d 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.Tests/ApprovalTests/AutoFeaturizerTests.AutoFeaturizer_newspaperchurn_test.approved.txt
+++ b/test/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.Tests/ApprovalTests/AutoFeaturizerTests.AutoFeaturizer_newspaperchurn_test.approved.txt
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@
         ],
         "InputColumnNames": [
           "dummy for Children"
-        ]
+        ],
+        "TargetType": "Single"
       }
     },
     "e2": {
diff --git a/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/SearchSpaceGenerator.cs b/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/SearchSpaceGenerator.cs
index 5480d683fa..379d9e618e 100644
--- a/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/SearchSpaceGenerator.cs
+++ b/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/SearchSpaceGenerator.cs
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ public void Execute(GeneratorExecutionContext context)
                         "dnnModelFactory" => "string",
                         "bertArchitecture" => "BertArchitecture",
                         "imageClassificationArchType" => "Microsoft.ML.Vision.ImageClassificationTrainer.Architecture",
+                        "dataKind" => "Microsoft.ML.Data.DataKind",
                         _ => throw new ArgumentException("unknown type"),
                     };
 
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ public void Execute(GeneratorExecutionContext context)
                         (_, "ColorsOrder") => defaultToken.GetValue<string>(),
                         (_, "BertArchitecture") => defaultToken.GetValue<string>(),
                         (_, "Microsoft.ML.Vision.ImageClassificationTrainer.Architecture") => defaultToken.GetValue<string>(),
+                        (_, "Microsoft.ML.Data.DataKind") => defaultToken.GetValue<string>(),
                         (_, _) => throw new ArgumentException("unknown"),
                     };
 
diff --git a/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/Template/SearchSpace.cs b/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/Template/SearchSpace.cs
index be05d616f2..409937611b 100644
--- a/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/Template/SearchSpace.cs
+++ b/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/Template/SearchSpace.cs
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ public virtual string TransformText()
 using Anchor = Microsoft.ML.Transforms.Image.ImageResizingEstimator.Anchor;
 using BertArchitecture = Microsoft.ML.TorchSharp.NasBert.BertArchitecture;
 using static Microsoft.ML.Vision.ImageClassificationTrainer.Architecture;
+using DataKind = Microsoft.ML.Data.DataKind;
 #nullable enable
 
 namespace ");
@@ -92,7 +93,7 @@ internal class SearchSpaceBase
         /// <summary>
         /// The string builder that generation-time code is using to assemble generated output
         /// </summary>
-        protected System.Text.StringBuilder GenerationEnvironment
+        public System.Text.StringBuilder GenerationEnvironment
         {
             get
             {
diff --git a/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/Template/SearchSpace.tt b/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/Template/SearchSpace.tt
index b64990f3f2..bbfad4ecb5 100644
--- a/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/Template/SearchSpace.tt
+++ b/tools-local/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.SourceGenerator/Template/SearchSpace.tt
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ using ResizingKind = Microsoft.ML.Transforms.Image.ImageResizingEstimator.Resizi
 using Anchor = Microsoft.ML.Transforms.Image.ImageResizingEstimator.Anchor;
 using BertArchitecture = Microsoft.ML.TorchSharp.NasBert.BertArchitecture;
 using static Microsoft.ML.Vision.ImageClassificationTrainer.Architecture;
+using DataKind = Microsoft.ML.Data.DataKind;
 #nullable enable
 
 namespace <#=NameSpace#>