Amazon Mandates Internal AI Coding Tool Kiro Over Third-Party Competitors

Amazon Orders Staff To Ditch Rival AI Coding Tools As It Pushes Kiro To Close Gap With OpenAI, Google - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has told employees to stop relying on outside AI coding tools and instead use its in-house system, Kiro. Internal Memo Pushes Engineers Toward Kiro An internal memo shows Amazon urging its engineering teams to avoid adding new third-party AI development tools, reported Reuters on Monday. While existing tools won't be immediately removed, the company made clear it is not planning to support new external options going forward. The memo, signed by senior AWS and e-commerce executives Peter DeSantis and Dave Treadwell, frames the move as essential to refining Kiro. Employees were told their feedback is critical to "aggressively improve" the tool. The e-commerce giant confirmed the memo to the publication. Amazon did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments. See Also: Spotify Remains In Rhythm But Ad Market Needs Remix Despite Big Investments, Amazon Limits Rival Tools The guidance discourages use of popular products such as OpenAI's Codex, Anthropic's Claude Code and Cursor -- even though Amazon has poured billions into Anthropic and expanded a multiyear cloud deal with OpenAI. This comes as Amazon has been working to shake off perceptions that it's falling behind rivals such as OpenAI and Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google in the race to develop advanced AI tools. In October, Amazon reported third-quarter net sales of $180.2 billion, a 13% increase from a year earlier and above the $177.8 billion analysts predicted. Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that Amazon remains in a solid long-term uptrend, even as its short- and mid-term momentum cools. Click here to see how it stacks up against peers. Read Next: David Tepper's Hedge Funds Bets On AMD, Nvidia In Q3, Takes Profits On Intel Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo Courtesy: ACHPF via Shutterstock AMZNAmazon.com Inc$226.29-%OverviewGOOGAlphabet Inc$326.922.65%GOOGLAlphabet Inc$327.002.64%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Amazon pushes in-house AI coding tool Kiro over competitors', memo shows

SAN FRANCISCO (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, according to an internal memo viewed by Reuters. In the memo, posted to Amazon's internal news site, the company said, "While we continue to support existing tools in use today, we do not plan to support additional third party, AI development tools." "As part of our builder community, you all play a critical role shaping these products and we use your feedback to aggressively improve them," according to the memo. The guidance would seem to preclude Amazon employees from using other popular software coding tools like OpenAI's Codex, Anthropic's Claude Code, and those from startup Cursor. That is despite Amazon having invested about $8 billion into Anthropic and reaching a seven-year $38 billion deal with OpenAI to sell it cloud-computing services. Amazon has been fighting a reputation that it is trailing competitors in development of AI tools as rivals like OpenAI and Google speed ahead. Kiro is Amazon's homegrown AI tool for code generation, the technique for creating websites and apps using just plain English commands. It relies in large part on versions of coding tools from Anthropic, but not specifically Claude Code. "To make these experiences truly exceptional, we need your help," according to the memo, which was signed by Peter DeSantis, senior vice president of AWS utility computing, and Dave Treadwell, senior vice president of eCommerce Foundation. "We're making Kiro our recommended AI-native development tool for Amazon." The internal guidance comes on the heels of Amazon widening Kiro's availability last week to a worldwide audience along with some new features. Spokespeople for Anthropic, OpenAI and Cursor did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the memo. Codex, Cursor and Claude Code have become popular ways for engineers to quickly spin up new services. Cursor, for instance, was valued at nearly $30 billion after completing a funding round earlier this month. In October, Amazon revised its internal guidance for OpenAI's Codex to "Do Not Use" following a roughly six month assessment, according to a memo reviewed by Reuters. And Claude Code was briefly designated as "Do Not Use," before that was reversed following a reporter inquiry at the time. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Stephen Coates)