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Testing: Speed vs. sustainability
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Image credit: geralt on Pixabay
(Image credit: Pixabay)
Generative AI (GenAI) isn’t just changing how code is written; it’s reshaping how we define software quality.
As AI tools become more embedded in software development workflows, the role of quality assurance (QA) is shifting from manual gatekeeping to real-time oversight of machine-generated outputs.
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Product Manager specializing in AI at TestRail.
The distrust stems from more than simply a level of discomfort; it's about what’s at stake. In QA, speed without accuracy can be a liability.
Many GenAI tools that generate tests from a single prompt, also known as "one-shot" test case generators, often favor output volume over precision.
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletterContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.That tradeoff can create more cleanup than time savings, forcing testers to untangle flawed logic, rebuild test architecture, and patch critical gaps in coverage.
And the changes aren’t limited to tooling. Indeed's 2025 "AI at Work" report finds that 54% of job skills in U.S. postings are now positioned for moderate transformation due to GenAI, with software roles among the most exposed.
This shift makes it clear that QA teams are being fundamentally reshaped.
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Rather than writing codes or tests from scratch, they’re being asked to oversee and refine machine-generated outputs, bringing a new layer of editorial responsibility into technical workflows.
In other words, the fastest way to generate code may not be the best way to release software.
The Allure and Limitations of Autocomplete Testing
Test case generation is one of the most visible uses of AI in software testing, yet real adoption still trails the headlines.
A recent mapping study reported that only 16% of participants had put AI to work in testing, but that number likely understates reality.
Many organizations still restrict or discourage AI on the job, so people hesitate to say they use it. There is pride involved too—some prefer to present outputs as entirely their own.
Trust, perception, and emotion shape how openly teams embrace AI, even when the pressure of shorter deadlines makes “requirements in, test cases out in seconds” sound irresistible.
This is why process design matters. The promise of speed is real, but without context and review it often turns into cleanup later.
Teams that acknowledge the human side of adoption and build habits for careful prompting and human-in-the-loop review get the best of both worlds: They move faster and keep confidence high.
When Speed Breeds Blind Spots
Fully autonomous generation can misread business rules, skip edge cases, or collide with existing architectures. That leads to rewrites, revalidation, and discarded work; the opposite of “faster.”
But it isn’t just an AI problem. It’s worth remembering humans err too.
Humans under deadline pressure also miss requirements, overfit to the happy path, or carry biases from prior projects. In the real world, 63% of security incidents and data breaches involve human factors and most apps show some misconfiguration during testing.
AI won’t fix that by itself. It needs context, constraints, and a human review step so we don’t swap one kind of error for another.
Where LLMs “hallucinate” or drift without enough context, people misinterpret ambiguous specs or rely too heavily on gut feel. The risk grows when teams slip into uncritical trust.
Skipping review because the output looks polished, whether it came from a model or a senior tester, invites the same failure pattern.
The fix is to make review habitual and symmetric: treat AI output the way you’d treat a junior analyst’s draft. Require context up front (systems, data, personas, risks). Check negative and boundary cases.
Compare “AI diffs” to the intended flow, and log acceptance versus rework so you can see where the tool helps and where it stumbles.
This isn’t about proving who makes fewer mistakes—it’s about pairing complementary strengths. Let AI generate structured scaffolds quickly; let humans apply judgment on risk, compliance, and nuance.
With a simple rule that no artifact enters the suite without a human pass, speed stops creating hidden debt and starts compounding into trust.
Human-in-the-Loop Is the Smarter Path Forward
AI should augment testers, not replace them. A human-in-the-loop (HITL) workflow keeps people at the decision points while turning AI into a productive drafting partner.
The key is intentional guidance: the clearer and more directed the human input, the more reliable the output.
In practice, that means testers don’t just “prompt and hope.” They supply context (systems, data, personas, risks), specify the desired format (steps, BDD, or free text), and state edge and negative cases up front.
Organizations back this with guardrails, such as templates, style guides, and role-based controls so generation is consistent and auditable.
With this structure, testers review lightweight drafts, refine titles and steps, and accept or reject suggestions based on business relevance and technical accuracy.
Confidence rises because the process is deliberate: inputs are constrained, outputs are inspected, and nothing enters the suite without a human pass.
That prevents garbage-in/garbage-out automation and preserves trust across regression, compliance, and cross-team collaboration.
Human-Guided AI Helps Every Tester
When AI is directed by people and reviewed before anything is committed, it becomes a learning tool and a force multiplier. For early-career testers, human-guided generation turns a blank page into a structured starting point.
Draft steps and suggested scenarios make it easier to spot boundary conditions, negative paths, and complex validations, so skills build faster and with less guesswork.
Experienced practitioners gain time to focus on exploratory testing, risk analysis, and regression strategy because repetitive drafting no longer consumes the day. Global teams benefit too.
Writing test artifacts in a second or third language is less taxing when AI assists with clarity and consistency. The result is stronger documentation, less stress, and more attention available for deeper testing.
Call it review-first, human-directed, or simply collaborative AI. The idea is the same: people set context and standards, AI proposes drafts, and humans keep quality and accountability intact.
Secure, Intelligent Testing Starts with Trust
AI tools aren’t always irrelevant to QA, but many are built generically and miss the day-to-day context real testing demands.
And that’s not unique to machines. Humans also make mistakes, especially under time pressure or when requirements are vague.
The lesson is the same for both – quality improves when we supply clear context, use consistent structures, and keep review checkpoints in place.
Treat AI like a capable teammate who needs coaching. Give it the same support systems we rely on for people. Precise prompts tied to real workflows, templates that define expected formats, and peer review before anything is committed.
Pair that with basic governance to know what data is retained, require role-based access, encrypt in transit and at rest, and keep an audit trail, and you reduce error rates on both sides of the human/AI line.
The goal isn’t to prove who’s smarter; it’s to design a process that makes everyone less likely to miss edge cases, misread business rules, or ship risky artifacts.
Context should lead, not just raw capability. The tools you choose need to adapt to your product’s business rules, tech stack, and compliance obligations, and they should produce the structured outputs your QA workflows expect.
That means checking how data is handled, confirming fine-grained access controls, and ensuring the model can follow your formats for steps, BDD, and free text.
Clear expression is the multiplier. The teams adopting AI fastest tend to be those who can translate intent into precise instructions.
When people articulate goals, constraints, and edge cases cleanly, AI returns work that is far more useful. Close that gap with training that builds prompting habits and teaches testers to “show their thinking” in inputs.
Pair capability with responsibility. Make data literacy part of onboarding so everyone knows what counts as PII, proprietary code, copyrighted content, or other sensitive material, and how those rules apply to prompts and outputs.
Establish simple do’s and don’ts, log usage, and keep an audit trail. With strong context, clear communication, and basic governance, AI becomes a trustworthy assistant rather than a compliance risk.
Trust and validation stay non-negotiable. Even strong models need people to interpret results, confirm coverage, and uphold standards. The fastest way to earn that trust is transparency.
When an AI can show why it suggested a test or a priority order, what signals it used, which code changes or past defects influenced the choice, and how confident it is, teams are far more likely to review, validate, and adopt the output.
Look for systems that:
• Explain the rationale behind each suggestion in plain language
• Link to the evidence used, like diffs, historical failures, or coverage gaps
• Display confidence or risk scores with pointers to what would raise or lower them
• Keep a clear audit trail so you can reproduce a result and see who approved it
With that level of visibility, HITL becomes human-on-top. Testers keep accountability while the AI provides traceable recommendations that are easier to validate and safer to scale.
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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro
TOPICS AI Katrina CollinsSocial Links NavigationProduct Manager specializing in AI at TestRail.
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