diff --git a/cmd/nvidia-ctk/cdi/generate/generate.go b/cmd/nvidia-ctk/cdi/generate/generate.go
index 4e930e05..008145ad 100644
--- a/cmd/nvidia-ctk/cdi/generate/generate.go
+++ b/cmd/nvidia-ctk/cdi/generate/generate.go
@@ -167,11 +167,15 @@ func (m command) run(c *cli.Context, cfg *config) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	err = createParentDirsIfRequired(cfg.output)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create parent folders for output file: %v", err)
+	path := cfg.output
+	if filepath.Clean(filepath.Dir(path)) == "." {
+		pwd, err := os.Getwd()
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to get current working directory: %v", err)
+		}
+		path = filepath.Join(pwd, path)
 	}
-	return spec.Save(cfg.output)
+	return spec.Save(path)
 }
 
 func formatFromFilename(filename string) string {
@@ -270,14 +274,3 @@ func MergeDeviceSpecs(deviceSpecs []specs.Device, mergedDeviceName string) (spec
 	}
 	return merged, nil
 }
-
-// createParentDirsIfRequired creates the parent folders of the specified path if requried.
-// Note that MkdirAll does not specifically check whether the specified path is non-empty and raises an error if it is.
-// The path will be empty if filename in the current folder is specified, for example
-func createParentDirsIfRequired(filename string) error {
-	dir := filepath.Dir(filename)
-	if dir == "" {
-		return nil
-	}
-	return os.MkdirAll(dir, 0755)
-}