diff --git a/qiskit/providers/aer/backends/aerbackend.py b/qiskit/providers/aer/backends/aerbackend.py
index 44bfd68843..c641828397 100644
--- a/qiskit/providers/aer/backends/aerbackend.py
+++ b/qiskit/providers/aer/backends/aerbackend.py
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ def __init__(self, controller, configuration, provider=None):
         self._controller = controller
 
     # pylint: disable=arguments-differ
-    def run(self, qobj, backend_options=None, noise_model=None, validate=True):
+    def run(self, qobj, backend_options=None, noise_model=None, validate=False):
         """Run a qobj on the backend.
 
         Args:
diff --git a/qiskit/providers/aer/releasenotes/notes/validation-opt-in-e43a002f160ddd11.yaml b/qiskit/providers/aer/releasenotes/notes/validation-opt-in-e43a002f160ddd11.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1137a237b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qiskit/providers/aer/releasenotes/notes/validation-opt-in-e43a002f160ddd11.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+upgrade:
+  - |
+    For Aer's backend the jsonschema validation of input qobj objects from
+    terra is now opt-in instead of being enabled by default. If you want
+    to enable jsonschema validation of qobj set the ``validate`` kwarg on
+    the :meth:`qiskit.providers.aer.QasmSimualtor.run` method for the backend
+    object to ``True``.