In an internal memo, technology giant Amazon (AMZN) told its software engineers to be selective about using artificial intelligence (A.I.) for coding and other tasks.
The memo, which was posted to the company’s website, raises concerns about the costs of using A.I. excessively.
Amazon has rapidly integrated A.I. across its sprawling global business operations. However, companies are also grappling with the technology’s surging costs and return on investment.
Amazon appears to be cracking down on “tokenmaxxing,” in which developers use A.I. as much as possible with little regard for output or costs.
Some companies have set limits on employees’ use of A.I. in an effort to slow rising costs. Others have switched to cheaper, open-source models for certain tasks.
Amazon hasn’t set specific limits on employees’ A.I. usage but is encouraging engineers to be pickier about when to employ the technology.
In May of this year, Amazon shutdown an internal A.I. leaderboard after discovering employees were tokenmaxxing their use of the technology to climb up the ranks.
Amazon is also discouraging staff from using A.I. when it doesn’t make sense for a given task.
“An engineer who can explain where AI does not yet help their work is demonstrating the judgement we are asking for,” reads the company’s memo.
AMZN stock has risen 10% in the last 12 months to trade at $253.10 U.S. per share.
