diff --git a/lightly/data/_utils.py b/lightly/data/_utils.py
index 6d49b59be..9dc67fb61 100644
--- a/lightly/data/_utils.py
+++ b/lightly/data/_utils.py
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@
 
 # Copyright (c) 2020. Lightly AG and its affiliates.
 # All Rights Reserved
+from __future__ import annotations
 
 import os
-from typing import List, Tuple
 
 import tqdm.contrib.concurrent as concurrent
 from PIL import Image, UnidentifiedImageError
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 from lightly.data import LightlyDataset
 
 
-def check_images(data_dir: str) -> Tuple[List[str], List[str]]:
+def check_images(data_dir: str) -> tuple[list[str], list[str]]:
     """Identifies corrupt and healthy images in the specified directory.
 
     The function attempts to open each image file in the directory to verify
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 405d16f07..1c963caa8 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -213,7 +213,6 @@ exclude = '''(?x)(
     lightly/data/_helpers.py |
     lightly/data/_image_loaders.py |
     lightly/data/_video.py |
-    lightly/data/_utils.py |
     lightly/data/multi_view_collate.py |
     lightly/core.py |
     lightly/api/api_workflow_compute_worker.py |