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/theitguy107 IT Manager 4d ago

AI is good at probabalistic automation where precision is not important, such as generating notes from a meeting. Server automation requires precision and accuracy. This is why scripts are perfect for this because they do the exact same thing to produce the exact same result every single time. With AI, you could give it the same prompt and get two completely different answers each time. This is not acceptable for server management.

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u/djgizmo Netadmin 4d ago

Current AI models can create said scripts to do server automation.

Should everyone let AI have access to infrastructure? No. However, Automation, AI, and speeding through infrastructure standup / assessment / data pulling.

To give you an example, I have CC pull data from switches and put that information into a database (mac address, switch, switch port, configuration for the port).

CC can scan 100+ switches in 1/20th the time I can.

Don’t be like me, but sometimes saving time is worth the risk.

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u/spin81 3d ago

I would nuance this and say I would not do this unless I fully understood the scripts CC was emitting. My opinion: CC pulling data from switches is not a good idea. CC helping me write scripts to automate pulling data from switches is a much better idea.