AI for Testing Today and Tomorrow: Industry Perspectives

With modern advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning and their applications to software testing, the intersection of AI and testing is receiving close attention. The 2018 Annual Western Conference on Software Testing Analysis and Review featured a two-session panel on AI for Software Testing (AIST). The panel brought together six industry experts with experience developing AIST products, services, and research prototypes. Questions sourced from the industrial testing community were used to provoke thought, stimulate conversation, and guide panel discussions. This paper provides a review of the industry panel, which includes discussions on the visions, ideas, thoughts, strategies, directions, and lessons learned developing systems that use AI to test software, applying methods to test AI systems, and designing self-testing systems. Both the testing community survey and the expert panel yielded insightful perspectives on AIST in practice.