Amazon Slaps New Rules on AI-Generated Code After Outages
Junior and mid-level engineers must now get senior sign-off on any AI-assisted code changes at Amazon's ecommerce unit.
Amazon is tightening the leash on AI-generated code. SVP Dave Treadwell issued a memo requiring junior and mid-level engineers to get sign-off from senior engineers before pushing any AI-assisted code changes.
The reason? A "trend of incidents" tied to generative AI-assisted changes that caused outages across Amazon's ecommerce business.
It's a notable reality check. Companies have been racing to integrate AI coding assistants into their workflows, promising massive productivity gains. Amazon is now admitting that speed without oversight creates real problems — the kind that take down production systems.
The new policy essentially creates a human review layer between AI-generated code and deployment. Senior engineers become the gatekeepers, adding friction to a process that AI tools were supposed to streamline.
Move fast and break things hits different when "things" means your entire ecommerce platform.