Amazon Is the Latest Tech Giant to Face the Consequences of AI 'Tokenmaxxing'

Amazon shut down Kirorank, an internal AI leaderboard, after employees gamed it by inflating token usage to climb the rankings.

The extra AI activity raised costs, making the experiment too expensive to keep running.

Amazon also told staff to stop using AI just for the sake of using it, echoing a wider pullback across major tech companies.

The move highlights growing pressure on enterprises to control AI spending when productivity gains are unclear.