AI-Assisted Code Changes Cause Major Outages at Amazon
Amazon experienced multiple service outages in early 2026 linked to AI-assisted code changes made by its internal Q coding tool. The company tightened code review controls and implemented a 90-day reset to prevent future incidents caused by inadequate safeguards and high-impact software deployments.
What happened
Amazon experienced a trend of incidents since the third quarter of 2025, including several major outages in the last few weeks of early March 2026. At least one disruption was tied to Amazon's AI coding assistant Q, with problems including high-impact code changes that propagated broadly due to inadequate control plane safeguards.
An internal document initially indicated that 'GenAI-assisted changes' involving 'GenAI tools' were a factor in the trend of incidents, but the reference to GenAI was subsequently deleted before an internal meeting on Tuesday. Amazon's website and app suffered technical glitches, with some users experiencing outages lasting approximately six hours.
Reported impact
The outages resulted in millions of lost orders and website errors affecting Amazon's retail operation. The incidents caused degraded performance and availability issues across Amazon's e-commerce platform.
Index analysis
Problems included 'high blast radius changes' where software updates propagated broadly because control planes lacked suitable safeguards, and data corruption that took hours to unwind. Some failures traced back to basic mechanisms such as two-person authorization requirements for code changes that were either lacking or bypassed.
Governance controls
Amazon announced it would implement tighter controls requiring engineers to document code changes more thoroughly and secure additional approvals. The company introduced what executives described as 'controlled friction' into the code-change review process, combining AI-driven 'agentic' tools with rules-based 'deterministic' systems and a temporary 90-day reset period.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.