Amazon's anti-tokenmaxxing memo says engineers should be pickier about using AI

Amazon circulated an internal memo in September, posted to its website Tuesday, revising how it defines software development engineers' and managers' roles in the AI era and discouraging "tokenmaxxing." The memo says metrics like token usage, AI tool adoption rates and code changes or reviews are "deeply flawed" and can raise costs and complexity, and that token usage and code generation should be considered "with care and judgment" alongside other data. An Amazon spokesperson said the company has not capped employees' token usage, and AWS VP Marc Brooker told CNBC Amazon looks to metrics such as "feature velocity" and frames the question as return on investment.