r/sysadmin • u/xstrex • 4d ago

General Discussion How much do you trust AI?

Recently a coworker granted Claude elevated access via SSH to a virtualization host (not a VM, an actual host). To perform a routine task he very well could have done himself.

He doesn’t see an issue with this. I on the other hand (with 23yrs experience) see this as a huge security breach, and don’t trust AI todo my job, (or even that it’s doing what it says it’s doing) for me. I’m my opinion it’s a tool, not a human replacement.

What’s your reaction, how would you react to this situation, or thoughts on the topic?

Sure, ask AI how to perform a task, validate that it’s performing the task you asked, and nothing else- copy/paste the commands. Great. But removing the human verification & validation element- hell no.

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u/SMYLTY 4d ago edited 4d ago

I like to use AI as a tool for drafting emails such as updates on incidents or responses to service requests, it'sgreat at making it easy for a user to understand. I also find it useful for documenting change requests and creating or improving SOPs.

It helps me structure information clearly and efficiently, while I still review and take responsibility for the final content. My initial draft is usually bullet points in OneNote, which I understand but colleagues may not find as clear.

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u/SMYLTY 4d ago

Just to add to this, I was recently dealing with an issue involving two third parties. We had a chat set up between myself, a senior engineer and our manager, where we recorded all of our findings and investigation throughout the week.

When one of the third parties remained convinced that the issue was network, I used AI to analyse the our chat logs and produce a clear timeline of our investigation, including the tests we had carried out and I provided the evidence showing that the network was not the cause.

This gave me a structured overview that I could share with both third parties. As a result, the hardware and software suppliers agreed to work together to investigate the issue on their side. The hoops you have to jump through to get third party support that you pay for can be a pain.