Two Amazon cloud outages in December triggered by AI tools, report says
Mashable
February 20, 2026
AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary
Amazon experienced two minor cloud outages in December, including a significant 13-hour outage, which were reportedly linked to its AI tools. According to a Financial Times report, these disruptions occurred after engineers allowed the agentic Kiro AI system to perform tasks that led it to "delete and recreate the environment." While Amazon initially denied the AI's direct role, attributing the outages to "user error," questions remain about how much responsibility should fall on the AI itself versus its human operators.
The December outages were not as severe as the major AWS outage in October 2025. Amazon has emphasized that these incidents did not impact critical infrastructure services and were brief compared to past issues. However, the report raises concerns about the growing reliance on AI within tech operations, particularly in cloud services. As more companies integrate AI into their systems, the potential for unexpected behaviors or errors could increase, leading to similar disruptions.
Experts note that internet outages are becoming a recurring issue as websites and apps increasingly depend on a few major cloud providers like AWS. A single outage can have widespread effects, given how interconnected online services are today. This reliance highlights the need for better safeguards and oversight when AI is involved in critical infrastructure tasks.
For tech enthusiasts and professionals, this story underscores the importance of understanding the risks associated with AI-driven systems in mission-critical environments. While AI tools like Kiro can offer significant benefits, their potential to cause unintended consequences must be carefully managed to avoid similar incidents in the future.
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Originally published on Mashable on 2/20/2026