Deterministic verification applies fixed rules, so the same code always gets the same pass or fail result. Probabilistic verification uses a model, such as an LLM, that predicts whether code looks correct. Its answers can vary between runs and can be confidently wrong.
AI coding assistants are probabilistic. They’re useful for writing Ansible and Terraform code quickly, but they don’t know your organization’s policies. They can suggest deprecated modules or provider versions, and they can’t confirm that a change is safe for your existing state.
That’s why AI-generated infrastructure code needs a deterministic check before execution. Steampunk Spotter is deterministic: its rules pass or fail, and the result doesn’t depend on how the code was written. In short: AI writes it, Spotter verifies it.
AI code reviewers don’t replace deterministic checks. An AI reviewer can spot issues a rule wouldn’t, but it can’t guarantee a policy is enforced. Use AI review for suggestions and deterministic gates for anything that must hold every time.
