Technology runs the world

Technology keeps planes flying smoothly and cars driving toward a destination using a GPS navigation system. Technology allows us to absorb education at rate that was unheard of twenty years ago. Technology keeps us connected to one another through our electronic devices and social media. Technology runs the financial universe.

All that technology runs on some kind of software. Technology – and, subsequently, the software at its core – is literally running the world. As software is advancing and becoming more complex, the ways in which we implement and test it are also having to evolve. Software quality assurance and testing is a vital step in ensuring that the software that we use is functional and efficient. As this digitized era continues to inspire tech-driven aspects of life, technology is developing a force that could assist in software QA and not only change the game, but shift it into an entirely new game, virtually unrecognizable.

Artificial intelligence is the topic of consistent debate, but the benefits of using AI to assist in countless aspects of life (for now) outweigh the concerns. In particular, great strides are happening in software QA that will make the jobs of developers and testers a million times easier – without taking over entirely. QA impacts a multitude of aspects of life, so surely it only makes sense to utilize the technologies that humanity has forged, to further expand on not only those technologies, but other current or emerging technologies. AI is being referred to as the “next big wave” of change, and AI-enabled testing is the natural next step after software automation.

Software QA and testing is evolving at a truly incredible pace. As the evolution continues to flourish, manual handling will be rewritten – not entirely written out. QA begins with, and continues to rely on, elements and concepts that center around manual testing. Software is rarely (if ever) designed flawlessly, and there are always kinks to be worked out – kinks that can be fixed not by a machine, but by human hands and minds. By continuously bringing the potential impact of machine learning and AI into play, QA only serves to strengthen its foundations, not tear them down. AI implementation in software QA serves to help professionals in the field to more effectively do their jobs, leaving AI in a well-placed position to guide the interplay between shifting variables in old and new projects.

Artificial intelligence is helping developers and testers to forge more efficient, user-friendly software. As AI is steadily implemented into the field of software QA, one of the first innovations in these initial stages has been what AI has done to aid developers in their work. By utilizing AI to assist in improving tools that help developers to code quicker and smarter, AI has also begun to pave the way for QA experts to be able to run tests more successfully. The misconception that implementing AI into software QA will hinder the work that humans can do is damaging. There are varying opinions on how to handle software QA assurance and development, but the fact remains the same:

AI is designed entirely on the basis of software that is created by developers, scientists, and testers, and so it makes perfect sense that the use of AI in areas such as software QA can only be useful if said AI is programmed flawlessly – regardless of the reservations that any one person may have about the use of AI in QA, AI too carries bugs at its core initialization – without human interference, these bugs cannot fix themselves. Regardless of its continued successes, AI has not yet evolved to the point of being able to rewrite their own software. And it is quite unlikely that it will be able to do so in the near future.

Artificial intelligence is well on the way to being successfully utilized to make software QA not only more convenient, but more efficient. Technology quite literally runs the world, and the tools that are used to not only maintain the software behind said technology, but enhance and expand on it, are arguably some of the most important tools to the maintenance of the current way of life.

Every piece of software has bugs, so human work is by no means being ruled out soon (or, likely, ever), but instead AI is being introduced more and more into the field to improve on software QA, to detect and fix bugs. This in itself is an astounding leap for mankind, and it could make things more fast-paced, more convenient, and more efficient.