AI already adopted by 78% of software testers – Technologist

2023 has seen several high-profile software failures in the USA, including affecting financial markets and air traffic suffering “its largest and most catastrophic disruption of service since 9/11.” Separately, recent research independently conducted by Dr Junade Ali found that 71% of software engineers agreed to a great or moderate extent that software reliability at their workplace concerned them, with the percentage concerned to a great extent increasing by 68% since 2021.

Building on these findings, LambdaTest’s new research, Future of Quality Assurance 2023, has shown that companies are working to respond to the need for greater software reliability with 72% of organisations involving testers in “sprint” planning sessions, signalling a substantial shift towards software quality being considered earlier in the software development lifecycle.

The survey shows that there has been rapid adoption of AI technologies. Uses of AI reported by software testers have included automating the creation of test data (51%), writing code for automated tests (45%), test result analysis and reporting (36%), and formulating test cases (46%). Additionally, 89% of organisations are automating the deployment and running of tests through CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery) tools.

Persistent gaps

The research has also highlighted that gaps continue to exist in software testing. Teams are spending 10% of their time on setting up and maintaining test environments and a further 8% of time is spent fixing flaky tests. 74% of teams lacked a structured prioritization system, potentially overlooking factors like risk levels and customer feedback when running automated tests.

Finally, many teams lack data-driven insights to measure software reliability – 29% lacked Test Intelligence infrastructure to provide insights on how automated tests are running and 12% lacked reporting systems.

Asad Khan, CEO and co-founder of LambdaTest, pointed out that the study highlights the need to address bottlenecks affecting productivity like brittle tests alongside the set-up and maintenance of test environments. “This presents us with an opportunity as well as a challenge – to develop and implement tools that will efficiently address these bottlenecks to keep driving software quality forward,” he continued.

Commenting on the study, Dr Ali noted that organisations are attempting to close the gap between the market’s expectations of software reliability and the current state. Artificial Intelligence has seen rapid adoption amongst software testers; however, efficiency challenges remain key to improving the cost, speed and effectiveness of software testing.

“Software testers and QA staff face great pressure in the software development lifecycle, whilst practices in the industry like engaging them earlier in the process is a step forward, new tools offer a significant opportunity to help close the gap.”

Dr Junade Ali