diff --git a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/README.md b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/README.md
index 63c7a4cd38..a49b72860a 100644
--- a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/README.md
+++ b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/README.md
@@ -71,12 +71,11 @@ In addition to the above attributes, the instrumentation also collect the follow
 | `aws.service.identifier` | string | Identifier for the service in the sdk | "sqs" |
 | `aws.service.name` | string | Abbreviation name for the service | "Amazon SQS" |
 | `aws.request.id` | uuid | Request unique id, as returned from aws on response | "01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef" |
-| `aws.error` | string | information about a service or networking error, as returned from AWS | "UriParameterError: Expected uri parameter to have length >= 1, but found "" for params.Bucket" |
 
 ### Custom User Attributes
 
-The instrumentation user can configure a `preRequestHook` function which will be called before each request, with a normalized request object (across v2 and v3) and the corresponding span.  
-This hook can be used to add custom attributes to the span with any logic.  
+The instrumentation user can configure a `preRequestHook` function which will be called before each request, with a normalized request object (across v2 and v3) and the corresponding span.
+This hook can be used to add custom attributes to the span with any logic.
 For example, user can add interesting attributes from the `request.params`, and write custom logic based on the service and operation.
 Usage example:
 
diff --git a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/src/aws-sdk.ts b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/src/aws-sdk.ts
index 0342a87a70..c74f0433c9 100644
--- a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/src/aws-sdk.ts
+++ b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/src/aws-sdk.ts
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ export class AwsInstrumentation extends InstrumentationBase<any> {
 
         self._callUserResponseHook(span, normalizedResponse);
         if (response.error) {
-          span.setAttribute(AttributeNames.AWS_ERROR, response.error);
+          span.recordException(response.error);
         } else {
           this.servicesExtensions.responseHook(
             normalizedResponse,
diff --git a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/src/enums.ts b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/src/enums.ts
index 8d8f2d2974..c3a36dcb12 100644
--- a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/src/enums.ts
+++ b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/src/enums.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 export enum AttributeNames {
-  AWS_ERROR = 'aws.error',
   AWS_OPERATION = 'aws.operation',
   AWS_REGION = 'aws.region',
   AWS_SERVICE_API = 'aws.service.api',
diff --git a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/test/aws-sdk-v2.test.ts b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/test/aws-sdk-v2.test.ts
index 0d7d8a8aea..bf11de2060 100644
--- a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/test/aws-sdk-v2.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-sdk/test/aws-sdk-v2.test.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ import { AttributeNames } from '../src/enums';
 import { mockV2AwsSend } from './testing-utils';
 import { expect } from 'expect';
 import { SemanticAttributes } from '@opentelemetry/semantic-conventions';
+import { AWSError } from 'aws-sdk';
+import { HttpResponse } from 'aws-sdk/lib/http_response';
 
 describe('instrumentation-aws-sdk-v2', () => {
   const responseMockSuccess = {
@@ -43,9 +45,20 @@ describe('instrumentation-aws-sdk-v2', () => {
     },
   };
 
-  const responseMockWithError = {
+  const error: AWSError = {
+    name: 'error',
+    message: 'something went wrong',
+    stack: 'fakeStack',
+    code: 'errorCode',
+    time: new Date(),
+  };
+
+  const responseMockWithError: Pick<
+    AWS.Response<any, AWSError>,
+    'requestId' | 'error'
+  > & { httpResponse: Partial<HttpResponse> } = {
     requestId: '0000000000000',
-    error: 'something went wrong',
+    error,
     httpResponse: {
       statusCode: 400,
     },
@@ -275,9 +288,22 @@ describe('instrumentation-aws-sdk-v2', () => {
         const awsSpans = getAwsSpans();
         expect(awsSpans.length).toBe(1);
         const [spanCreateBucket] = awsSpans;
-        expect(spanCreateBucket.attributes[AttributeNames.AWS_ERROR]).toBe(
-          responseMockWithError.error
+        const exceptionEvent = spanCreateBucket.events.filter(
+          event => event.name === 'exception'
         );
+        expect(exceptionEvent.length).toBe(1);
+
+        expect(exceptionEvent[0]).toStrictEqual(
+          expect.objectContaining({
+            name: 'exception',
+            attributes: {
+              'exception.message': 'something went wrong',
+              'exception.stacktrace': 'fakeStack',
+              'exception.type': 'errorCode',
+            },
+          })
+        );
+
         expect(
           spanCreateBucket.attributes[SemanticAttributes.HTTP_STATUS_CODE]
         ).toBe(400);