Companies are increasingly adopting chatGPT, a creation by OpenAI, to enhance productivity for both the company and its employees. This innovative tool has gained significant popularity worldwide, with various sectors and companies utilizing it for tasks such as writing, composing emails, drafting messages, and other complex assignments.
Modern IT networks are intricate systems comprising firewalls, switches, routers, servers, workstations, and other valuable devices. As companies operate on cloud hybrids, they are constantly exposed to threats from malicious actors.
Network engineers are responsible for managing these complex networks and implementing technical solutions. While chatGPT can be a valuable tool when used correctly, there are concerns among engineers regarding how it may impact their roles. However, there are three key areas where chatGPT can provide valuable assistance to engineers.
- Configuration Management: ChatGPT has demonstrated its capabilities in generating example configurations for different network devices like Cisco routers and Juniper switches, showing familiarity with vendor-specific syntax. However, it is crucial to carefully monitor the accuracy of the configurations generated by the system.
- Troubleshooting: ChatGPT has shown an impressive understanding of network engineering concepts, such as the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), as observed through its ability to answer real-world questions posed by network engineers. Nonetheless, for more complex issues, networking professionals are still needed, and chatGPT cannot fully replace them.
- Automating Documentation: While chatGPT initially claimed to provide networking diagrams, it later admitted its limitations in generating graphical representations. This area remains a significant challenge for chatGPT, as it is primarily a text-based tool. However, other AI applications are capable of generating images, suggesting that producing a usable network diagram could be achievable in the future.
Throughout the research, several important considerations emerged, including ensuring accuracy and consistency, integrating with existing systems and processes, and handling edge cases and exceptions. These challenges are not unique to chatGPT but are inherent in AI applications as a whole. Researchers have emphasized the need to differentiate between coherent text generation and true functional competence or intelligence.
In conclusion, while chatGPT possesses impressive capabilities, it cannot replace network engineers. Its true value lies in assisting professionals who understand its effective use for specific tasks.
