The Automation Confidence Gap: When Should AI Be Allowed to Change Production?
DevOps.com, Friday, October 23rd, 2026
Score AI-proposed production changes on seven evidence checks, let the score set execution authority, and never let it override a failed gate.
A plausible AI recommendation is a reason to investigate, not permission to execute, so the author proposes seven checks for AI-generated infrastructure changes: intent certainty, policy compliance, evidence quality, runbook maturity, blast radius, rollback readiness and change novelty.
These feed a 0-100 confidence index that sets authority, from recommend-only below 50 to auto-execution of proven low-risk work at 95 and above.
A high score can never override a failed authorization, policy or safety gate, and a separate policy service, not the model, must enforce limits.
A certificate renewal example shows authority growing as evidence accumulates.