Systems administrators often go unrecognized for their daily work keeping systems running smoothly, and the promise of artificial intelligence to reduce alert fatigue and automate tasks has many sysadmins embracing generative AI. Still, as they prepare their environments to reap the benefits of genAI, new survey results reveal a healthy skepticism about how these technologies will integrate with their job functions and how organizations will achieve their desired outcomes from AI.
Autonomous endpoint management provider Action1 for the third consecutive year conducted a survey of 600 sysadmins worldwide to learn more about AI’s role in their daily work. The Action1 2025 Survey Report: AI Impact on Sysadmins shows that sysadmins are becoming more familiar with AI, with 45% reporting that they now understand how to integrate AI into their roles, an increase from 34% last year. Still, more than half of survey respondents reported that they are not clear on how to use AI properly in their roles.
“Sysadmins are the unsung heroes of their organizations, ensuring every employee can get their work done,” said Mike Walters, president and co-founder of Action1, in a statement. “Our latest survey shows how they are embracing generative AI to automate their routine tasks and give them more time to elevate their value and impact. As much as operational use is expanding, it’s clear that limitations still exist, meaning the human oversight is still essential.”
As IT teams mark SysAdmin Day in 2025, new data reveals that AI is becoming a reality for sysadmins—but not without some growing pains.
AI readiness grows
Nearly half (45%) of sysadmins reported that they understand how to integrate AI into their roles, a sharp increase from 34% in 2024. This increase points to greater exposure to AI tools, experimentation, and shared industry-wide discussions, according to Action1. However, 47% still feel unprepared, which is down from 60% in last year’s survey, but that number is still a significant portion of the sysadmins surveyed.
Even with individual progress in AI readiness, the survey shows that enterprise policy isn’t keeping pace. Only 22% of sysadmins say their organizations require the use of AI tools, up slightly from 18% in 2024. Nearly three-quarters (73%) reported that their organizations do not have AI mandates in place. Even without top-down mandates, sysadmins are proactively upskilling. Seventy percent are actively seeking AI-related training in 2025.
The report shows that AI is being deployed typically in high-volume, repetitive tasks. Troubleshooting and log analysis lead the way, with 41% and 35% of sysadmins, respectively, reporting use of AI in those areas—up significantly from 2024.
Respondents reported that the following tasks are most likely to be automated with AI in the next two years:
- Vulnerability prioritization: 67%
- Monitoring of server CPU and memory utilization: 67%
- Detecting and remediating incidents: 66%
- Patch management processes: 66%
- Security controls and compliance analysis: 65%
- Performing post-incident reviews: 57%
- Providing IT staff with guidance and training: 55%
- Troubleshooting: 55%
In contrast, sysadmins surveyed reported that the following tasks are less likely to be automated with AI in the next two years:
- Managing SSO and passwords: 48%
- Administering user permissions: 44%
- Managing files: 38%
- Defining system usage policies and procedures: 34%
- Providing end users with first-level IT support: 30%
- Installing and maintaining software: 29%
- Troubleshooting: 24%
- Performing post-incident reviews: 23% Providing IT staff with guidance and training: 23%
AI concerns persist
Sysadmins indicated they worry about falling behind peers. Some 40% expressed concern about being left behind by more AI-literate peers, a slight improvement from 45% in 2024. The top three reasons sysadmins are hesitant to embrace AI are:
- 79% worry about accuracy and reliability.
- 78% cite data privacy and security risks.
- 60% fear loss of control over automated actions.
As AI adoption increases, so does the visibility of its shortcomings. Troubleshooting, the most common use case, is also the topic where AI struggles the most—30% of sysadmins reported failures in this area, a figure that is nearly double from last year’s survey. Another 20% of sysadmins said AI implementations have caused operational disruptions.
Other areas that show AI isn’t yet performing up to expectations are: log analysis with 12% failure reports, and first-level IT support tasks also with 12% citing it as an area for AI failures. Even support for IT staff, such as training guidance, is falling short for some users as 10% cited this as an area in which AI has failed.
Source:: Network World