Another one for the AI “what could possibly go wrong” file…

From the article, apparently they want the General Services Administration (GSA) “to operate like a software startup, and proposed a whole-of-government, AI-first strategy to automate much of the work done by federal employees today.”

Aside from not even being able to launch properly without leaking their entire plan on GitHub, it’s pretty clear why there has been an all out assault on State-level AI regulation via a proposed 10-year pause of “any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems.”

Further evidence as well that the majority of AI fanboys are saying the quiet part out loud behind closed doors: AI hype is sold as a way of getting rid of all these damn people…

Buckle up my tester friends, it’s going to be a long, hot summer…

Your regular reminder as apparently, FOMO and euphoria have taken the day:

• Thinking critically about a technology is NOT being AGAINST it…
• Considering safety and harm in a technology’s use is NOT being AGAINST it…
• Being critical of the marketing of a technology is NOT being AGAINST it…
• Having principles and values drive your adoption of technology is NOT being AGAINST it…
• Calling out unverifiable claims used misleadingly to sell a technology is NOT being AGAINST it…

As a software testing community, we can do a LOT better than this and frankly, right now people need us to…

What a week in beautiful Edinburgh for EuroSTAR 2025 – I had a great time with the team from KPMG who sponsored a booth in the Expo for the first time. As in other times in my career, I am so lucky to have passionate testers to work with who care about our craft and community, and the team and EuroStar Conferences was amazing to work with in getting us over the line in time!

The theme this year was “AI on Trial”, and through what I observed and conversations I had over the week, which was an inspired choice as it really feels like we are at an inflection point in the software testing business. René van Veldhuijzen‘s “FOMO Sapiens” could not have been more spot on with the mood right now, as we careen back and forth between “AI-first-all-the-time-bandwagons” and AI skeptics being dismissed with the feverish pitch of tulip speculators!

So what were some of my observations and take aways from the week in Scotland:

Very happy to share that I have been awarded Chartered status by the Chartered Management Institute. Thanks to KPMG for sponsoring me and everyone in the Quality Engineering and Testing team for the support!

This is a great talk from Michael Bolton about how software testers should critically think and talk about AI in testing.

IMO it is our responsibility as testing professionals to cast a (very) sceptical eye on any claim, but even MORE so in the age of AI hype…enjoy!

Here’s my podcast with James Bach he referenced: QR Podcast – James Bach | Quality Remarks Keith Klain

Happy to be included in the 272nd issue of Software Testing Weekly – thanks, Dawid Dylowicz!

These days, your philosophy about testing is more important than ever and a differentiator in the software testing market. Santosh Tuppad has been leading from the front since I first met him as a rising star at Moolya and through his workshops on security testing with me in the Bronx or in Germany with the Afghan Girls Robotics team.

Come take a listen as we talk about the current state of testing skills training in our business, cyber security in the age of AI, and travel far off the beaten path into philosophy, true happiness as a tester, and how many cheese fries is enough…enjoy!

If someone you work with is making the following statement, “We don’t need to hire any more testers, we can do this all with AI!”, I may not know that person, but I can tell you a couple things about them…

– They are a deeply unserious – they clearly have not thought about or researched anything related to AI, software engineering, software quality, software testing or risk management.

– They don’t care about people – I have yet to see this “thinking out loud” BS not being used as a thin veneer to cover the age old question of “how do I get rid of all these people!”.

– They shouldn’t be responsible for anything to do with producing products that impact society – This is the kind of “blue sky” questions that to try to “challenge the status quo” with no regard whatsoever to the impact or harm caused to real people and end up “inventing” busses again.

As before, where the only “shifting left” was into vendors pockets from unsuspecting clients, you’re not dumb – you’re being misled.

And just to get in front of the “youreonlyprotectingyerjobs” AI fanboys – you’re goddamn right I am!

I care a LOT about the people testing software and systems every day, and I can tell immediately if you’ve never had to live with that responsibility.

Do better…

The following is a post I wrote for the EuroSTAR blog as KPMG UK are going to be at the expo this year up in Scotland…hope to see you there!

Principles Drive Trust in AI

The pace that “artificial intelligence” (AI) is being incorporated into software testing products and services creates immense ethical and technological challenges for an IT industry that’s so far out in front of regulation, they don’t even seem to be playing the same sport.

It’s difficult to keep up with the shifting sands of AI in testing right now, as vendors search for a viable product to sell, and most testing clients I speak to these days haven’t begun incorporating an AI element to their test approach and frankly, the distorted signal coming from the testing business hasn’t helped. What I’m hearing from clients are big concerns around data privacy and security, transparency on models and good evidence, and the ethical issues of using AI in testing.

I’ve spent a good part of my public career in testing talking about risk, how to communicate it to leadership, and what good testing contributes to that process in helping identify threats to your business. So I’m not here to tell you “no” to AI in testing, but talk about how KPMG is trying to manage through the current mania and what we think are the big rocks we need to move to get there with care and at pace.