Amazon's AI coding tool allegedly caused a 13-hour outage
In December 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered a 13-hour outage in China, which the Financial Times reported was linked to Kiro—Amazon's own AI coding assistant, an allegation Amazon disputes.
Engineers tried to fix an issue using Kiro, but things went sideways when the tool allegedly deleted and recreated a key environment.
The AI tool usually checks before making big changes
Kiro usually checks before making big changes, but this time an engineer used extra-powerful access that let the AI act without its usual safety checks.
A senior AWS staffer called the outage "small but entirely foreseeable," hinting it could've been avoided with better controls.
Amazon put the blame on 'user error'
Amazon put the blame on "user error"—specifically, misconfigured permissions—not on Kiro itself.
They pointed out that any tool could cause problems if not set up right.
Most AWS services kept running fine, and now peer reviews are required before anyone can make big changes in production.
This slip-up is a wakeup call
This slip-up is a wakeup call about how fast-moving AI tools can go wrong if companies don't lock down who can do what.
As Amazon pushes more devs to use Kiro every week, it's a reminder: double-check your access controls before letting AI loose on important systems.