Science & Tech · Big Tech & Internet · 2 hrs ago
Amazon says engineers should prioritize results over AI usage
Amazon has issued new AI guidance for its software engineers in a memo circulated internally in September and posted publicly on Tuesday.
The company says AI should be central to software engineering, but engineers should be judged by results for customers and the business, not simply by how much they use AI.
Amazon warns that targeting measures such as AI tokens, tool use or lines of code can encourage “tokenmaxxing” and create higher costs or unnecessary complexity.
The company previously tracked AI use and had an internal leaderboard, which it shut down after finding that some employees used AI to climb the rankings.
Amazon says managers should use such measures carefully and also consider whether teams are delivering useful changes faster.
Leaders are expected to use AI on production work and explain where it helps and where it falls short.
Engineers whose work does not yet benefit from AI should explain why and share what they learn with colleagues and managers.
Amazon says software engineers should prioritize customer and business results over how much they use artificial intelligence.
A memo revising the company’s engineering guidance warns that metrics such as token use and code changes can encourage wasteful activity or unnecessary complexity.
The guidance says AI should be central to software engineering, while its use should be judged with care and alongside long-term outcomes.
Amazon says managers should understand where AI tools help and where they fall short, and explain that judgment to their teams.
- Who
- Amazon software engineers and engineering managers.
- What
- The company revised its guidance on AI use, urging engineers to focus on results rather than raw usage.
- When
- The memo was circulated internally in September and posted on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.
- Where
- Amazon; the memo was posted on the company’s website.
- Why
- Amazon says usage metrics can encourage wasted effort, higher costs, or unnecessary complexity, and wants to assess long-term outcomes.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Amazon shut down an internal leaderboard after discovering employees were using tokens excessively to climb the rankings.
Amazon circulated its revised AI usage memo internally.
Amazon posted the memo on its website.
- Memo author
- Terk Terkowitz, Amazon vice president and distinguished engineer
- Memo circulation
- September 2026
- Public posting
- October 27, 2026
- Leaderboard
- Amazon shut down an internal leaderboard in May after employees used tokens excessively to climb the rankings
- Measurement guidance
- Token use, AI-tool adoption, and code changes or reviews should be considered with care and judgment
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What people are saying
We all need to embrace this change and take the time to learn, or we risk being left behind
We believe that it is best to measure, and be measured by, long-term outcomes.
If there is an important problem to solve for our customers, important problem to solve for our business, we're going to invest tools, time, tokens, human effort, etc. into those.
What we don't want to see is wasted effort where we are going and spending those tokens solving problems that don't matter and sometimes it's hard to know, so we do need to have some appetite for experimentation.