Amazon sends message to engineers on in-house coding tool Kiro; says: We do not plan to…
Amazon has reportedly sent a memo to its software engineers to start adopting Kiro, its proprietary development system , in a strategic push to close the gap with rivals OpenAI and Google. According to a report by news agency Reuters, Amazon suggested its engineers eschew AI code generation tools from third-party companies in favor of its own, a move to bolster its proprietary Kiro service, which it released in July. The report quotes an internal memo viewed by Reuters. The directive affects popular competing products including OpenAI's Codex, Anthropic's Claude Code, and Cursor—despite Amazon's billions in investments with these same companies.
The directive, posted to Amazon's internal news site and signed by senior AWS and e-commerce executives Peter DeSantis and Dave Treadwell, makes clear the company's position: "While we continue to support existing tools in use today, we do not plan to support additional third party, AI development tools." An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the memo's authenticity to Reuters.
According to the report, the guidance effectively discourages Amazon employees from using popular competing products such as OpenAI's Codex, Anthropic's Claude Code, and Cursor—despite Amazon having invested roughly $8 billion in Anthropic and securing a multi-year, $38 billion cloud deal with OpenAI.
Fighting perceptions Amazon is falling behindThe move comes as Amazon works to counter perceptions that it trails rivals like OpenAI and Alphabet's Google in the race to develop cutting-edge AI tools. Reuters reported the company had previously designated OpenAI's Codex as "Do Not Use" in October following a six-month internal assessment. Claude Code was also briefly given the same restriction before that designation was reversed after a reporter inquiry.
The directive, posted to Amazon's internal news site and signed by senior AWS and e-commerce executives Peter DeSantis and Dave Treadwell, makes clear the company's position: "While we continue to support existing tools in use today, we do not plan to support additional third party, AI development tools." An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the memo's authenticity to Reuters.
According to the report, the guidance effectively discourages Amazon employees from using popular competing products such as OpenAI's Codex, Anthropic's Claude Code, and Cursor—despite Amazon having invested roughly $8 billion in Anthropic and securing a multi-year, $38 billion cloud deal with OpenAI.
Fighting perceptions Amazon is falling behindThe move comes as Amazon works to counter perceptions that it trails rivals like OpenAI and Alphabet's Google in the race to develop cutting-edge AI tools. Reuters reported the company had previously designated OpenAI's Codex as "Do Not Use" in October following a six-month internal assessment. Claude Code was also briefly given the same restriction before that designation was reversed after a reporter inquiry.
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