Using AI Tools for DevOps: Productivity Without the Hype

Everyone seems to be talking about generative AI. Tools like ChatGPT and GitHub’s Copilot promise to revolutionise the way developers and operations engineers work. As someone who spends a lot of time writing infrastructure code and troubleshooting systems, I’ve been curious about how these tools actually fit into a DevOps workflow. Coding assistants for Infrastructure as Code I was initially sceptical of AI code generation. How could a language model understand the nuances of my Terraform modules or Kubernetes manifests? Surprisingly, Copilot has been most helpful for boilerplate code: writing resource blocks, suggesting module inputs, or drafting basic YAML for GitHub Actions. It won’t design your entire infrastructure, but it does save you from typing repetitive blocks. For example, when creating IAM policies, Copilot can scaffold the JSON and remind you of required keys.