Automated code review is the use of tools to check code changes for bugs, security issues, style problems and policy violations without waiting for a human reviewer. Rule-based tools give the same result every time; AI code review tools use language models to comment on changes like a human reviewer would.
The two types catch different things. AI reviewers are good at explaining intent, spotting logic smells and suggesting refactors, but their comments can vary and miss things. Rule-based reviewers can’t reason about intent, but they enforce a policy reliably on every change.
AI code review vs rule-based checks: use AI review for suggestions and readability, and deterministic checks for anything that must always hold, such as security policies, compliance controls and version compatibility. For Ansible and Terraform, Steampunk Spotter provides the deterministic layer in CI/CD.
