diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/yargs-helpers.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/yargs-helpers.ts
index 92c982ab7bffd..884f1cf74d97a 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/yargs-helpers.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/yargs-helpers.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ export function yargsNegativeAlias<T extends { [x in S | L]: boolean | undefined
  * @returns true if the current process is running in a CI environment
  */
 export function isCI(): boolean {
-  return process.env.CI !== undefined;
+  return process.env.CI !== undefined && process.env.CI !== 'false' && process.env.CI !== '0';
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/test/util/yargs-helpers.test.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/test/util/yargs-helpers.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..5ad8a17a62f78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/test/util/yargs-helpers.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+import { isCI } from '../../lib/util/yargs-helpers';
+
+test.each([
+  ['true', true],
+  ['1', true],
+  ['false', false],
+  ['0', false],
+  // The following ones are unexpected but this is the legacy behavior we're preserving.
+  ['banana', true],
+  ['', true],
+])('test parsing of falsey CI values: %p parses as %p', (envvar, ci) => {
+  process.env.CI = envvar;
+  expect(isCI()).toEqual(ci);
+});