Amazon memo tells engineers token usage is a flawed measure of AI work

Amazon published a memo to its software engineers on Oct. 27 calling token usage, AI tool adoption and counts of code changes “deeply flawed” measures of AI work, warning that using them as targets could raise costs (“tokenmaxxing is at odds with frugality”) and adding: “If your work does not benefit from current AI tooling, that is a finding, not a failing.” The memo, posted by vice president Terk Terkowitz, still says those metrics “correlate well with the outputs that matter,” calls for using them “with care and judgement,” and tells managers to study the teams at the 10th and 90th percentiles of AI adoption. Per CNBC, the memo circulated internally in September, Amazon shut down an internal leaderboard in May after finding employees were tokenmaxxing (using AI as much as possible with little regard for output) to climb it, and a spokesperson said Amazon has not capped employees’ token use.