JonFeb 20
David Gerard

lol, AWS vibe coded itself an outage

https://www.ft.com/content/00c282de-ed14-4acd-a948-bc8d6bdb339d

Feb 20 at 8:16amWeb
Show threadThe Orange ThemeFeb 20
@davidgerard I always wondered how any species could be dumb enough to collapse its own civilization. I wonder no longer.
Show threadjackcoleFeb 20

@theorangetheme @davidgerard

We've got to quit saying "How stupid can you be?" People are taking that as a challenge.

Show threadNeo EhproqueFeb 20
@davidgerard can only see the headline but https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazons-cloud-unit-hit-by-least-two-outages-involving-ai-tools-ft-says-2026-02-20/
Show threadNeo EhproqueFeb 20
@davidgerard it seems like they call a 14 hour outage caused by their own tools deciding to turn it off and on again an "extremely limited brief outage caused by user error"
Show threadpanuFeb 20
@ehproque
Yes, well, both "limited" and "brief" can be subjective and relative, but "user error" is spot on: it is an error by a human user to apply AI to... well, pretty much anything.
@davidgerard
Show threadLP🔸Light up the nightFeb 20
@ehproque @davidgerard Yes, my repeated comment on this one is that the responsibility crumple zone functioned as intended.
Show threadNeo EhproqueFeb 20
@LionsPhil @davidgerard like Cory Doctorow said: accountability sink
Show threadpuretasteFeb 20

@ehproque @davidgerard

"The spokesperson called the disruption brief and attributed it to user error."

I'm honestly wondering which "user" they think was in error: the engineer or the management who probably put lots of "incentives" in place to use a chatbot for work. I also see elsewhere they say it was an issue with the engineer having too broad permissions. I find it hard to imagine any permission scope where tools autonomously deleting everything is a good idea, but maybe that's just me.

Show threadPassengerFeb 20

@davidgerard

Solidarity with clippy. I, too, have the desire to delete AWS.

Show threadBeccaFeb 20

@passenger it came up with the right solution but they broke it after only 13 hours!

humans 😤

@davidgerard

Show threadnjsgFeb 20

@bweller @passenger @davidgerard Microsoft to revive Clippy as the Windows AI assistant which can come up with the same tips some magazines print over and over and will do spring cleanings of your computer automatically.

Amazon better patent this ASAP.

Show threadPassengerFeb 20

@bweller @davidgerard

Does this mean that the humans are morally scabs?

Show threadilmariFeb 20
@davidgerard I still can't get over the fact that they named their vibe coding editor the Finnish word for "swear" (as in profanity)
Show threadDavid GerardFeb 20

@ilmari lol really

if I say

> In Finnish, the word Kiro also means “curse,” as in profanity.

is that correct? or correct enough?

Show threadnjsgFeb 20
@davidgerard @ilmari I'm now imagining reactions to their GenAI with Kiroileva Siili commenting on its brilliance.
Show threadDavid GerardFeb 20
@njsg @ilmari lloll
Show threadJinnaFeb 20
@davidgerard @njsg @ilmari "Kiro" is the compounded base word that isn't really used as-is, the act of swearing is "kiroilu", a curse is "kirous". So probably more of a fake latin that is accidentally close enough vs an intentional joke by an engineer. 🤷‍♀️
Show threadDavid GerardFeb 20
@jinna @njsg @ilmari i'll call it a word root then
Show threadilmariFeb 20
@jinna @davidgerard @njsg there's also the verb "kiroa" (to curse), of which the second person singular imperative is "kiro".
Show threadnjsgFeb 20
@davidgerard So, Amazon is employing GenAI to uncover avenues previously unavailable without such technology like "Turning it off and on again"?
Show thread🇪🇺 Paul Schoonhoven 🍋🍉Feb 20

@njsg @davidgerard it should have read that so many times it had to be truth!

And it is... 😅😅

Show threadrailsFeb 20
@davidgerard
Show threadAngela ScholderFeb 20
@davidgerard 😂😂😂
Show threadcraignicolFeb 20
@davidgerard @otfrom how long before a big company suffers an unrecoverable vibe coded incident? (Not thinking rm -rf of all their data and services, but certainly either losing big chunks of customer data or an important paid service going permanently offline and needing to be rebuilt from scratch)
Show threadChaucerburntFeb 20
@craignicol @davidgerard @otfrom I hope it's X
Show threadcraignicolFeb 20
@chaucerburnt @davidgerard @otfrom aren't they owned by SpaceX these days? Vibe code starlink out of orbit
Show threaddvdjacoFeb 20
@davidgerard https://youtu.be/m0b_D2JgZgY
Silicon Valley- Gilfoye's AI Deleted All Software

YouTube
Show threadManegiste Flou ⏚ (he/him)Feb 20

@davidgerard "delete and recreate" looks a LOT like a newbie would do just in case the issue disappears.

Very comforting for AWS customers to imagine a newbie "manages" their production systems...

Show threadlbcp 🦖 Feb 20
@LaurentB45 @davidgerard Since most stack overflow questions, regarding home servers, probably end with "I just deleted and recreated my instance", it makes sense that the "AI" does the same.
If that's also the best way for production environments is up to all the AI bros out there.
Show threadlbcp 🦖 Feb 20
@davidgerard I wish we could just delete and recreate the whole internet.
Show threadmanchickenFeb 20
@davidgerard It's nice that they are so committed to dogfooding their own products.
Show threadDavid GerardFeb 20
@manchicken "eating our own dogshit"
Show threadmanchickenFeb 20

@davidgerard I've known dogs where these distinctions between food _before_ and _after_ are less meaningful than they would be to us.

There may be some of those misunderstandings at play?

Show threadJonny EllFeb 20
@davidgerard just a short 13-hour outage
Show threadBeccaFeb 21

@jonlawrence only 2 nines of uptime, if they have no other outages whatsoever

that's terrible

@davidgerard

Show threadDavid GerardFeb 21
@bweller @jonlawrence nine fives
Show threadStephan* :birders:Feb 20
@davidgerard Vibe coded outage... great band name.
Show thread✅💃Màdiq🙈🙉🙊Iźichi💃✅Feb 20

@davidgerard

"It's possible that Son of Anton decided that the most efficient way to get rid of all the bugs was to get rid of all the software, which is technically and statistically correct. But artificial neural nets are sort of a black box, so we'll never know for sure." - Bertram Gilfoyle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0b_D2JgZgY

Silicon Valley- Gilfoye's AI Deleted All Software

YouTube
Show threadiantoFeb 20
@davidgerard glad it found a purpose
Show threadAtomic OrbitalsFeb 20
@davidgerard Bad vibe coding!
Show threadSo many dynamosFeb 20
@davidgerard Run it on the White House
Show threadSystem AdminihaterFeb 20
@davidgerard It is half right. Deleting AWS would be a great start.
Show threadfuzzyfuzzyfungusFeb 20
@davidgerard At least there's something relatable about a bot that also understands the urge to burn it all down and start over.
Show threadfdrFeb 20
@davidgerard in one of Asimov's short stories, Multivac tries to commit suicide because it's overwhelmed by all the tasks given to it.
Show threadSoftwarewolfFeb 20
@davidgerard It's the future! You'll be left behind! /s
Show threadMaria “indigoviolet” IvyFeb 20
@davidgerard Hahaha!!! I KNEW IT!!!
Show threadTrump & Epstein: Biz partners.Feb 20

@davidgerard
WAIT-A-MINUTE.

Amazon's #AI concluded the best way to complete a project was to scrap it & start from scratch? 😆

The AI equivalent of "Have you tried unplugging it and then plugging it back in?" 🤦‍♂️

Show threadsynlogic4242Feb 20
@davidgerard loltears!!!
Show threadJules 🍺Feb 22
@davidgerard you know most employees would be fired for that sort of mistake 😶