Elon Musk has commented on reports that Amazon is addressing recent system disruptions, with one specifically tied to code generated with AI assistance.
The online retail behemoth convened a compulsory meeting on Tuesday to thoroughly examine numerous service interruptions, some of which stemmed from implementing AI coding functionalities, as reported by the Financial Times, based on internal documents and communications. The publication indicated that Amazon acknowledged a “pattern of incidents” over recent months, characterized by a “high blast radius” and linked to “Gen-AI assisted changes” alongside other contributing factors.
Earlier in the month, certain users experienced downtime for Amazon’s website and mobile application, with over 22,000 individuals reporting problems, as indicated by Downdetector. Shoppers encountered issues checking out, seeing product prices, or logging into their accounts. Amazon attributed that specific disruption to “a software code deployment.”
News of this gathering attracted significant interest from technology specialists, including Musk, who publicly shared his views in response to a message by Lukasz Olejnik, a cybersecurity consultant and visiting senior research fellow at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.
“Amazon is holding a mandatory meeting about AI breaking its systems,” Olejnik wrote.
“Proceed with caution,” Musk replied.
Dave Treadwell, Amazon’s senior vice president for e-commerce services, apparently communicated via email that the recurring “This Week in Stores Tech” (TWiST) meeting would partly serve to establish stricter controls on engineers’ use of AI. This would involve mandating sign-offs from more senior engineers for AI-assisted modifications made by their junior and mid-level colleagues.
“Folks, as you likely know, the availability of the site and related infrastructure has not been good recently,” Treadwell wrote in an internal email, the FT reported.
A representative from Amazon informed Fortune that the TWiST meeting is a standard weekly operational session where retail technology teams and their leadership evaluate performance metrics.
“As part of normal business, the meeting will include a review of the availability of our website and app as we focus on continual improvement,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The firm verified that Amazon Web Services (AWS) played no role in the reported incidents. Amazon clarified that only one incident under discussion had an AI connection, but none involved code entirely generated by AI. Furthermore, the company stated that junior and mid-level engineers are not mandated to get senior engineers’ approval for AI-assisted alterations.
The risks of rapid AI deployment
These service interruptions and the ensuing meeting have prompted cybersecurity specialists to voice worries regarding the hazards linked to the swift introduction of AI technologies. Tools such as Amazon’s AI assistant Q can accelerate code generation, leading to faster development. However, Olejnik explained to Fortune that this could potentially destabilize the established processes for coding, verification, and deployment, thereby increasing platforms’ vulnerability to breakdowns.
“I’m not making an argument against deployment of AI,” he said. “There isn’t any. It can’t be stopped. Everybody is going to deploy AI. It’s an argument against speed for its own sake or using AI for the sake of using AI.”
Towards the end of last year, Amazon initiated widespread layoffs affecting thousands of employees, stating goals of enhanced efficiency and cultural alignment within the organization. These job cuts have persisted into the current year, with an additional 16,000 staff reductions occurring in January. Concurrently, Amazon has heavily invested in AI, forecasting $200 billion in capital expenditures for 2026, a rise from $131 billion in 2025.
Separately, Musk has earlier claimed that AI will render coding obsolete entirely by late 2026.
Olejnik cautioned that an overly swift shift from coding primarily done by humans to systems operated by AI could bypass essential safety protocols. This might lead to extended service outages or data breaches, potentially “wrecking” a business due to poorly managed AI implementation.
Upon inquiry, he confirmed his agreement with Musk concerning the careful consideration necessary for AI deployment within the technology sector.
“I agree with him,” Olejnik said. “AI brings a lot of opportunities, but there’s a middle ground between going to obsolescence due to not using AI, and blowing up businesses due to ill-judged deployments.”