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Amazon employees are "tokenmaxxing" due to pressure to use AI tools

arstechnica.com

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Re: Amazon employees are "tokenmaxxing" due to pressure to use AI tools

#51

Post by asdfman123 »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #42

> They said the move reflected pressure to adopt the technology after Amazon introduced targets for more than 80 percent of developers to use AI each week, and earlier this year began tracking AI token consumption on internal leader boards. This measuring of tokenmaxxing as a proxy for something beneficial to the company has got to be the single dumbest thing I have ever heard of in my entire software career. It woul…

In the corporate world it's impossible for any one person to tell what's going on across multiple domains due to the complexity. If I tell you the Zorbulon API is creating 30% more flargs (which is critical for Twiddle operation), I often just have to take your word for it.

Hell, I'm in the bowels of Google as an IC and it's hard to understand what adjacent teams are doing. Even harder for management that never gets their hands on anything.

So while you know engineers are probably bullshitting you with fake work, you can at least turn around and tell your supervisor the numbers. It's all a game of plausible deniability.

Re: Amazon employees are "tokenmaxxing" due to pressure to use AI tools

#52

Post by HarHarVeryFunny »

guywithahat wrote: post #4

This reads more like it's a single employees gripe than a real thing that's happening. They're not using the metrics in performance reviews, and it's a new AI tool that AWS probably wants legitimate usage data out of. That said, if you can't figure out how to use AI in a software job you should look into it. Not using AI at this point is a lot like not using CAD as an architect.

Apparently it's real. Meta has a tokenmaxxing leaderboard too.

"Wow, look at how fast employee # 2 is setting money on fire! Let's promote him!"

Re: Amazon employees are "tokenmaxxing" due to pressure to use AI tools

#53

Post by retinaros »

asdev wrote: post #35

People who don't code(management, leadership) think AI will 10x the company but it's really a 40-60% boost. But engineers have to feign adopting this tools in fear of layoffs

Its not really a 60%. It accelerates a lot code creation. Save some time on admin tasks. That is it.

Re: Amazon employees are "tokenmaxxing" due to pressure to use AI tools

#54

Post by jnpnj »

pjmlp wrote: post #24

I can tell they are surely not the only ones. Everyone I talk to has nowadays KPIs tied to AI usage on their performance evaluation.

Corporate emails asking why are you not using the paid plan ??? came very very rapidly. So naturally, everybody started to use it blindly so that the dashboard metrics are all high.

It's astonishing how society forgets.

Re: Amazon employees are "tokenmaxxing" due to pressure to use AI tools

#55

Post by H8crilA »

pjmlp wrote: post #24

I can tell they are surely not the only ones. Everyone I talk to has nowadays KPIs tied to AI usage on their performance evaluation.

The most important skill is to not stand out of the crowd. This is how you survive in the Soviet Union, in the army, and clearly also at tech companies.

Re: Amazon employees are "tokenmaxxing" due to pressure to use AI tools

#56

Post by oytis »

asdev wrote: post #35

People who don't code(management, leadership) think AI will 10x the company but it's really a 40-60% boost. But engineers have to feign adopting this tools in fear of layoffs

> 40-60% boost

Where? What industry, what kind of projects? The only one where I can imagine it to be true is vulnerability research, and I imagine all the low-hanging fruit to be picked soon

Re: Amazon employees are "tokenmaxxing" due to pressure to use AI tools

#58

Post by retinaros »

riknos314 wrote: post #12
guywithahat wrote: post #4

This reads more like it's a single employees gripe than a real thing that's happening. They're not using the metrics in performance reviews, and it's a new AI tool that AWS probably wants legitimate usage data out of. That said, if you can't figure out how to use AI in a software job you should look into it. Not using AI at this point is a lot like not using CAD as an architect.

Amazon has far more roles than just software. PMs, FC area managers, managers - if your job involves writing anything you're expected to be using AI in some capacity.

We can tell they are using AI

Re: Amazon employees are "tokenmaxxing" due to pressure to use AI tools

#60

Post by ryandrake »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #42

> They said the move reflected pressure to adopt the technology after Amazon introduced targets for more than 80 percent of developers to use AI each week, and earlier this year began tracking AI token consumption on internal leader boards. This measuring of tokenmaxxing as a proxy for something beneficial to the company has got to be the single dumbest thing I have ever heard of in my entire software career. It woul…

It's truly bonkers: the reverse of a budget. It is like rewarding the people who spend the most money.
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