Amazon

Amazonhas ordered its software engineers to stop adopting third-party AI coding tools and pivot exclusively to Kiro, its proprietary development system, in a strategic push to close the gap with rivals OpenAI and Google, according to an internal memo reviewed 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.”The guidance effectively blocks 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 multiyear, $38 billion cloud deal with OpenAI. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the memo’s authenticity to Reuters.

Fighting perceptions Amazon is falling behind

The 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 memo frames employee adoption as critical to Kiro’s success. “As part of our builder community, you all play a critical role shaping these products and we use your feedback to aggressively improve them,” the executives wrote, according to Reuters.”To make these experiences truly exceptional, we need your help.”

250,000 developers already using Kiro

Amazon launched Kiro in preview mode in July and expanded it to general availability last week. More than 250,000 developers have used the tool in its first three months, handling over 300 million requests. The AI code assistant market is exploding—Market.us projects it will grow from $5.5 billion in 2024 to $47.3 billion by 2034.Kiro distinguishes itself through a spec-driven development approach that generates formal specifications, design documents, and task lists alongside code—addressing the maintainability problems that plague AI-generated prototypes. Spokespeople for Anthropic, OpenAI, and Cursor did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.