AI vs. DevOps: Are Infrastructure Engineers AI-Proof?

One of the most intriguing perspectives came from an experienced DevOps professional who actually argued against the premise:

"There is nothing safer than development if you are skilled. If you move to AI Development... skilled developers will always be in demand rather than operations performers or support professionals. I am too learning Development to be honest."

This viewpoint challenges the conventional wisdom by suggesting that development—particularly AI development—may actually be more resilient to automation than operational roles.

The reasoning? Development requires creative problem-solving and deep domain expertise that current AI tools still struggle with, while many operational tasks follow repeatable patterns that are prime candidates for automation.

Others argue that the critical nature of infrastructure management creates a barrier to full automation:

"DevOps is more critical and you have to tread carefully. One small mistake and there goes your production environment. You have to manage your entire cloud infrastructure, make enhancements during special events when you expect more load, make patches without breaking your working setup, too much stress."

This perspective highlights that DevOps isn't just about technical knowledge—it's about managing risk in high-stakes environments where mistakes can be catastrophically expensive.

A particularly insightful argument focuses on the fundamental nature of current AI systems:

"If, by AI, you mean LLMs, absolutely not. They are not deterministic, but probabilistic. Who would you blame if it fucked up? AI will be but a mere assistant, making our lives easier, for the foreseeable future."

The critical infrastructure underpinning modern business requires predictability and accountability. When failures occur, organizations need clear responsibility chains—something current AI systems can't provide.

A critical distinction emerged in the discussion between genuine DevOps roles and those merely labeled as such:

"I would say true devops roles are going to take time for AI to replace. Mostly because it requires a lot of skills including being able to design systems and identify the right solution to add for a scenario... However there are a lot of roles currently in the market which are tagged as devops but mostly involves manual non technical work... This type of devops jobs would be at risk."

A veteran with 20 years of experience offered a broader historical view:

"There was a time when there was no Shopify, WordPress, StackOverflow, google & so on. The internet revolution has created more jobs in technology in general. Now, we are at a point where most of the stuff has already been developed. Forget AI; the need to build new software is less & less... It now takes a lot less number of engineers to build a SaaS product with $1m in revenue vs 5 years ago."

This perspective highlights that technological advancement has always changed job requirements rather than eliminating them entirely—even before the current AI revolution.

So where does this leave technologists planning their careers? Here's my synthesis of the discussion:

The question of whether DevOps will be the last role to be replaced by AI misses a more important point: the nature of all technical roles is evolving rather than disappearing entirely.

The consensus from industry professionals points to a future where:

• AI acts as an assistant rather than a replacement for skilled professionals in both development and operations
• Low-skill, repetitive tasks will be automated across all technical disciplines
• Problem-solving, design skills, and risk management will become more valuable in both development and operations
• Technical professionals need to continuously adapt, regardless of their current specialization

In my view, the most resilient career strategy isn't choosing between development or operations based on which might be automated last—it's developing a combination of technical depth, business understanding, and problem-solving abilities that transcend any single role definition.