diff --git a/airflow/providers/pinecone/hooks/pinecone.py b/airflow/providers/pinecone/hooks/pinecone.py
index a04ae60ce8391..35aa66c3204b5 100644
--- a/airflow/providers/pinecone/hooks/pinecone.py
+++ b/airflow/providers/pinecone/hooks/pinecone.py
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ def create_index(
         :param dimension: The dimension of the vectors to be indexed.
         :param spec: Pass a `ServerlessSpec` object to create a serverless index or a `PodSpec` object to create a pod index.
             ``get_serverless_spec_obj`` and ``get_pod_spec_obj`` can be used to create the Spec objects.
-        :param metric: The metric to use.
+        :param metric: The metric to use. Defaults to cosine.
         :param timeout: The timeout to use.
         """
         self.pinecone_client.create_index(
diff --git a/airflow/providers/pinecone/operators/pinecone.py b/airflow/providers/pinecone/operators/pinecone.py
index 8431276206e07..bb3d44214d42b 100644
--- a/airflow/providers/pinecone/operators/pinecone.py
+++ b/airflow/providers/pinecone/operators/pinecone.py
@@ -99,10 +99,10 @@ class CreatePodIndexOperator(BaseOperator):
     :param replicas: The number of replicas to use.
     :param shards: The number of shards to use.
     :param pods: The number of pods to use.
-    :param pod_type: The type of pod to use.
+    :param pod_type: The type of pod to use. Defaults to p1.x1
     :param metadata_config: The metadata configuration to use.
     :param source_collection: The source collection to use.
-    :param metric: The metric to use.
+    :param metric: The metric to use. Defaults to cosine.
     :param timeout: The timeout to use.
     """
 
@@ -116,10 +116,10 @@ def __init__(
         replicas: int | None = None,
         shards: int | None = None,
         pods: int | None = None,
-        pod_type: str | None = None,
+        pod_type: str = "p1.x1",
         metadata_config: dict | None = None,
         source_collection: str | None = None,
-        metric: str | None = None,
+        metric: str = "cosine",
         timeout: int | None = None,
         **kwargs: Any,
     ):
diff --git a/tests/system/providers/pinecone/example_pinecone_cohere.py b/tests/system/providers/pinecone/example_pinecone_cohere.py
index fa9dccac330b0..c74a376f61406 100644
--- a/tests/system/providers/pinecone/example_pinecone_cohere.py
+++ b/tests/system/providers/pinecone/example_pinecone_cohere.py
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ def create_index():
         from airflow.providers.pinecone.hooks.pinecone import PineconeHook
 
         hook = PineconeHook()
-        hook.create_index(index_name=index_name, dimension=768)
+        pod_spec = hook.get_pod_spec_obj()
+        hook.create_index(index_name=index_name, dimension=768, spec=pod_spec)
         time.sleep(60)
 
     embed_task = CohereEmbeddingOperator(
diff --git a/tests/system/providers/pinecone/example_pinecone_openai.py b/tests/system/providers/pinecone/example_pinecone_openai.py
index f68fd5d3e04a4..d338e25542ce0 100644
--- a/tests/system/providers/pinecone/example_pinecone_openai.py
+++ b/tests/system/providers/pinecone/example_pinecone_openai.py
@@ -17,13 +17,12 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import os
-import time
 from datetime import datetime
 
 from airflow import DAG
-from airflow.decorators import setup, task, teardown
+from airflow.decorators import task, teardown
 from airflow.providers.openai.operators.openai import OpenAIEmbeddingOperator
-from airflow.providers.pinecone.operators.pinecone import PineconeIngestOperator
+from airflow.providers.pinecone.operators.pinecone import CreatePodIndexOperator, PineconeIngestOperator
 
 index_name = os.getenv("INDEX_NAME", "example-pinecone-index")
 namespace = os.getenv("NAMESPACE", "example-pinecone-index")
@@ -75,15 +74,11 @@
     start_date=datetime(2023, 1, 1),
     catchup=False,
 ) as dag:
-
-    @setup
-    @task
-    def create_index():
-        from airflow.providers.pinecone.hooks.pinecone import PineconeHook
-
-        hook = PineconeHook()
-        hook.create_index(index_name=index_name, dimension=1536)
-        time.sleep(60)
+    create_index = CreatePodIndexOperator(
+        task_id="create_index",
+        index_name=index_name,
+        dimension=1536,
+    )
 
     embed_task = OpenAIEmbeddingOperator(
         task_id="embed_task",
@@ -110,7 +105,7 @@ def delete_index():
         hook = PineconeHook()
         hook.delete_index(index_name=index_name)
 
-    create_index() >> embed_task >> perform_ingestion >> delete_index()
+    create_index >> embed_task >> perform_ingestion >> delete_index()
 
 from tests.system.utils import get_test_run  # noqa: E402