SolarWinds has published new research showing that AI is reducing manual work for IT professionals while increasing the demands placed on them. In a survey of 1,040 global IT professionals, 67% said AI had reduced manual work, while 71% said it had made their role more demanding.
The data points to the volume of checking still required around AI outputs. Some 71% of respondents said they need to double-check AI’s work, 62% said they struggle to trust its recommendations, and 48% said AI tools produce too many insights without enough context. The findings sit alongside a broader rise in responsibility for IT teams as AI tools spread across more parts of the business.
Cullen Childress, Chief Product Officer at SolarWinds, said: “IT teams are being hit hard with additional cognitive load resulting from AI implementations. While the wider workforce is embracing a growing number of AI tools, IT is left to manage and secure them, as well as extract value from data that often lacks context.”
He added: “Without proper planning, AI can introduce more risk through gaps in security and governance, while adding more fragmentation, reviews, and sanity checks for teams that don’t have the capacity to absorb it. However, the right AI tools can change that, helping teams move away from constant reactive work towards more intelligent, automated environments that identify issues earlier and reduce the need for manual oversight.” More detail on the findings is available here.
