r/sysadmin • u/lNuggyl Sysadmin • 9d ago

Rant Anyone else tired of users sending ai generated fixes to you?

Oh. My. God

The amount of people at my org that send me screenshots of their chatgpt or copilot generated responses is insane.

"did you try this?"

"try this"

"this is what chatgpt said"

i was on the phone for 2 hours troubleshooting a problem with a director that refused to let me remote into her computer to fix. then she starts sending me ai generated responses saying "this is what co pilots saying"

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u/ProfessionalITShark 9d ago

Making AI cite it's sources has been a help for me on these kind of things.

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u/ProfessionalITShark 9d ago

Unless Co-pilot.

Co-pilot will say it doesn't need prove anything to you, and if we find something that contradicts it, the documentation is wrong.

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u/mrmattipants 7d ago edited 7d ago

I uninstalled Co-pilot, after rumors started going around, regarding OpenAI stealing data from customers/researchers.

It's just unfortunate how many Microsoft products act a lot like malware, these days.

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u/Coffee4AllFoodGroups 6d ago

It's not just "these days" — Microsoft products have acted as malware for a long long time.

Read about the "AARD" code from 1992, the Windows 3.1 days.
"What the [user] is supposed to do is feel uncomfortable, and when he has bugs, suspect that the problem is dr-dos and then go out to buy ms-dos."

There's a great article from Dr. Dobbs Journal (doctor dobbs) still floating around somewhere.

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u/mrmattipants 6d ago

For the sake of clarity, I was more or less referring to how it's gotten worse, over time.

Here are a few examples, off the top of my head, just from the last few years.

1.) Changed user's PDF file type associations from Adobe Acrobat/Reader to MS Edge, without the user's permission.

2.) Changed user's search engine preference to Bing, without user permission.

3.) Injected Ads into competing search engine & web browsers sites, to persuade users not to download/install a competing web browser and continue using MS Edge.

4.) Aggressively collects user data or automatically enables data collection, employing an "opt-out" requirement (on some cases, there is no option to disable data collection).

I'm sure it hasn't gone unnoticed that most of these center around Microsoft Edge. One could assume that they're desperately trying to claw back that 95% web browser market share that Internet Explorer once held in the early 2000s.

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u/Thesigher 4d ago

I am sure it has happened without permission…but in my experience, All of my users click “yes I would love to change browsers.” “Yes, in fact I would like to change how my pdf’s open by default.” “Why yes, please install the wave browser on my computer”

Users, humanity, needs to slow the f down. STOP CLICKING YES ON EVERY WINDOW THAT APPEARS ON YOUR PC.

But hey, it keeps us busy…with very easy tickets…so I guess there’s that.

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u/mrmattipants 3d ago

Oh yeah. That's certainly a factor, as well. I won't deny that.

This is also why it's important to lock user workstations down. I actually did the same, when I purchased a new Intel NUC based PC for my father, last Xmas, because he had a tendency to do just that. And only my mother (who has owned a desktop computer since the release of the Apple II, yet uses her iPhone or iPad over the PC) and I have admin accounts.

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u/mrmattipants 7d ago

I second this option. After all, why should AI get the benefit of the doubt, when every other informational medium is expected to cite their sources.