--- title: Amazon warns its engineers against tokenmaxxing in new... description: Amazon has told engineers that token usage, AI tool adoption and lines-of-code counts are 'deeply flawed' ways to measure AI-assisted work. A memo from VP Terk... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-warns-its-engineers-against-tokenmaxxing-in-new-ai-guidelines-3jxkbamrt twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Amazon warns its engineers against tokenmaxxing in new AI guidelines | daily.dev og:description: Amazon has told engineers that token usage, AI tool adoption and lines-of-code counts are 'deeply flawed' ways to measure AI-assisted work. A memo from VP Terk... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-warns-its-engineers-against-tokenmaxxing-in-new-ai-guidelines-3jxkbamrt og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/3JXkBaMRT.png og:image:alt: Amazon warns its engineers against tokenmaxxing in new AI guidelines og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Amazon warns its engineers against tokenmaxxing in new AI guidelines **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 3 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary Amazon has told engineers that token usage, AI tool adoption and lines-of-code counts are 'deeply flawed' ways to measure AI-assisted work. A memo from VP Terk Terkowitz, shared with staff in September, warns that treating these numbers as targets rather than measures can raise costs and complexity. Amazon shut down an internal AI usage leaderboard in May after employees were found gaming it, though it has not capped token usage. The memo still calls AI central to engineering, asking managers to study why the bottom 10% of teams by AI adoption lag behind. Other companies have also curbed AI spending this year: Microsoft set division-level AI budgets, and Accenture capped staff Claude spending at $29 a month. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is tokenmaxxing in the context of AI coding tools? Tokenmaxxing is the practice of using AI as much as possible with little regard for the output it produces. Amazon's internal memo, signed by VP Terk Terkowitz, warns that tokenmaxxing is at odds with the company's 'frugality' leadership principle and can raise costs and complexity when teams treat AI usage metrics as targets rather than measures. _Teams weighing how to measure AI-assisted engineering work can track this debate on daily.dev._ ### Why did Amazon shut down its internal AI usage leaderboard? Amazon shut down the leaderboard in May after finding that employees were tokenmaxxing, using AI heavily just to climb the rankings, rather than to produce meaningful output. The company's AWS vice president Marc Brooker later told CNBC that Amazon does not want engineers 'spending those tokens solving problems that don't matter.' _Engineers navigating AI productivity pressure can follow how companies like Amazon adjust their policies on daily.dev._ ### Has Accenture capped how much employees can spend on Claude? Yes, Accenture capped staff spending on Claude at $29 a month, as reported by 404 Media. This follows a broader trend of companies curbing AI spending, including Microsoft setting division-level AI budgets in August and Uber's tech chief declaring the tokenmaxxing era over. _Developers tracking AI tool budgets and spending caps can follow these shifts on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@kartiknvj** · 0 upvotes > Shutting the leaderboard down in May and then asking managers to study the bottom 10% of teams by adoption still ranks teams on usage. I'd run the other check in the memo first, whether the top 10% actually deliver more, using something like Brooker's count of successful changes reaching production. Burning tokens doesn't move that number. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Amazon employees are “tokenmaxxing” due to pressure to use AI tools](https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-employees-are-tokenmaxxing-due-to-pressure-to-use-ai-tools-o30tjyqlm) · Hacker News · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [Tokenminimizing: firms cap staff AI use as bills bite](https://daily.dev/posts/tokenminimizing-firms-cap-staff-ai-use-as-bills-bite-lykjugt2t) · The Next Web · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Amazon deletes devs’ tokenmaxxing leaderboard to minimize costs](https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-deletes-devs-tokenmaxxing-leaderboard-to-minimize-costs-ric9ezkdx) · InfoWorld · 4 upvotes · 1 comments - [Companies are scrambling to stop employees from maxing out AI budgets with small tasks](https://daily.dev/posts/companies-are-scrambling-to-stop-employees-from-maxing-out-ai-budgets-with-small-tasks-mbjganiqr) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#amazon](https://daily.dev/tags/amazon), [#leadership](https://daily.dev/tags/leadership), [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#dora-metrics](https://daily.dev/tags/dora-metrics) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-warns-its-engineers-against-tokenmaxxing-in-new-ai-guidelines-3jxkbamrt) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Amazon warns its engineers against tokenmaxxing in new AI guidelines","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-warns-its-engineers-against-tokenmaxxing-in-new-ai-guidelines-3jxkbamrt","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-warns-its-engineers-against-tokenmaxxing-in-new-ai-guidelines-3jxkbamrt"},"datePublished":"2026-10-28T12:24:10.614Z","dateModified":"2026-10-28T15:04:21.270Z","description":"Amazon has told engineers that token usage, AI tool adoption and lines-of-code counts are 'deeply flawed' ways to measure AI-assisted work. 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I’d run the other check in the memo first, whether the top 10% actually deliver more, using something like Brooker’s count of successful changes reaching production. Burning tokens doesn’t move that number.","datePublished":"2026-10-29T13:51:35.365Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/3JXkBaMRT#c-i5g2Eh3u8","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"kartik-nvjk","url":"https://daily.dev/kartiknvj","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--3gGgsVCw--/f_auto/v1781456774/avatars/avatar_TvTVeiMdkRCqWUDullFmy?_a=BAMAMiWQ0"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-warns-its-engineers-against-tokenmaxxing-in-new-ai-guidelines-3jxkbamrt#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is tokenmaxxing in the context of AI coding tools?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Tokenmaxxing is the practice of using AI as much as possible with little regard for the output it produces. Amazon's internal memo, signed by VP Terk Terkowitz, warns that tokenmaxxing is at odds with the company's 'frugality' leadership principle and can raise costs and complexity when teams treat AI usage metrics as targets rather than measures. Teams weighing how to measure AI-assisted engineering work can track this debate on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Amazon shut down its internal AI usage leaderboard?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Amazon shut down the leaderboard in May after finding that employees were tokenmaxxing, using AI heavily just to climb the rankings, rather than to produce meaningful output. The company's AWS vice president Marc Brooker later told CNBC that Amazon does not want engineers 'spending those tokens solving problems that don't matter.' Engineers navigating AI productivity pressure can follow how companies like Amazon adjust their policies on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Has Accenture capped how much employees can spend on Claude?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, Accenture capped staff spending on Claude at $29 a month, as reported by 404 Media. This follows a broader trend of companies curbing AI spending, including Microsoft setting division-level AI budgets in August and Uber's tech chief declaring the tokenmaxxing era over. Developers tracking AI tool budgets and spending caps can follow these shifts on daily.dev."}}]} ```