Amazon's New Rule: Judge Engineers by Value, Not AI Use

AI coding tools are changing the software industry, and programmers' work is shifting with it. On October 27, Amazon updated its software engineer guidelines for the AI era, stressing that engineers should be judged by the business value they create, not by how much AI they use. Amazon had previously tracked how often employees used AI, along with token usage and lines of code, even ranking teams on leaderboards, which upset some workers. The new memo warns that chasing these metrics too hard can backfire. If the numbers become goals instead of references, results may turn negative. Amazon VP Techturk Totkowitz said AI is changing software development faster and deeper than cloud computing did, but what matters most is what engineers deliver for customers. Managers must try AI tools in real projects themselves and pay close attention to the top and bottom 10% of teams, checking whether AI truly speeds up delivery.