Amazon tells engineers to stop ‘tokenmaxxing’ to look productive — says AI will be central to software development, but usage is not the goal, new guidelines claim

# Amazon tells engineers to stop ‘tokenmaxxing’ to look productive — says AI will be central to software development, but usage is not the goal, new guidelines claim Source: [https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/amazon-tells-engineers-to-stop-tokenmaxxing-to-look-productive-says-ai-will-be-central-to-software-development-but-usage-is-not-the-goal-new-guidelines-claim](https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/amazon-tells-engineers-to-stop-tokenmaxxing-to-look-productive-says-ai-will-be-central-to-software-development-but-usage-is-not-the-goal-new-guidelines-claim) \(Image credit: Getty / Bloomberg\) [Amazon](https://www.tomshardware.com/tag/amazon)wants its engineers to quit chasing token counts, warning that heavy AI usage does not automatically mean better work\. In updated engineering guidelines[published](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-software-engineer-role-guideline-ai?utm_source=rss)on October 27, the company laid out how developers and managers should gauge AI’s real impact — and the takeaway is blunt: consuming more tokens is not the same as delivering more value\. Amazon is not backing away from the technology, though\. “We are certain that whatever future best practices are, AI will be at the center of software engineering practice,” the company wrote\. Go deeper with TH Premium: AI and data centers Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in\-depth reviews, straight to your inbox\. Newton Gitonga is a tech journalist covering gadgets, PC hardware, AI, data centers, and the wider tech industry\. His interest in technology started early, taking apart things around the house to see how they worked, often to his dad’s frustration\. His curiosity sometimes got the better of him, including a few failed attempts to fix laptops, one of them a gifted Dell XPS\. He has previously written for Notebookcheck, ZyCrypto, CoinCentral, and Crypto News Flash\.