Amazon has discontinued KiroRank, an internal AI usage leaderboard, following a surge in compute costs caused by misuse. The leaderboard ranked employees based on the volume of their AI activity but was created informally by employees and not an official company tool [1, 2].
Some employees exploited AI agents to make excessive and meaningless calls solely to inflate their rankings, which led to a significant spike in AI compute expenses [1, 2]. An Amazon spokesperson said the leaderboard was "never intended to promote the use of AI for usage's sake," and the company remains focused on encouraging adoption that drives innovation and operational efficiency [2].
Dave Treadwell, Amazon’s Senior Vice President, urged employees to use AI thoughtfully, saying, "Please don't use AI just for the sake of using AI. Use AI to help you solve customer problems, to help you solve business problems, to innovate" [2].
Amazon treats token usage as a cost metric and does not support "tokenmaxxing"—using AI purely to boost usage statistics without meaningful outcomes [2]. The company’s market capitalization stands at approximately $2.9 trillion [1].
In August 2026, Amazon informed employees of the leaderboard’s closure due to the misuse and resulting cost issues [1, 2]. The company continues to promote responsible AI practices across its workforce.
