The introduction of AI-powered tools into software engineering is reshaping the entire software development lifecycle, impacting design, development, operations, and maintenance. AI plays already a central role in tasks such as code generation, test generation, or error detection, contributing to increased automation in software engineering processes. However, while AI excels at automating certain tasks, it lacks the nuanced human judgement and creativity required to comprehend broader contexts, understand intricate business logic, and make subjective decisions in software development. Testing, with its reliance on human expertise, remains essential for the holistic evaluation of software. Despite AI’s ability to generate code snippets based on patterns and data, there is a gap in capturing the intricacies of the intended business logic or software requirements. This has given rise to new research topics such as AI-driven requirements engineering or AI-guided test design in software engineering. In this keynote, we will take a comprehensive look at the current state of AI-driven software engineering. We will delve into selected aspects and highlight ongoing developments in the role of AI in software testing and its automation. By reviewing the state of the art, we aim to navigate the evolving intersection of AI and software testing, identifying opportunities, challenges, and the way forward in this dynamic landscape.

Ina Schieferdecker is an independent researcher and Honorary Professor of Software-Based Innovation at the Technische Universität Berlin. Previously, she was Director General for Research for Technological Sovereignty and Innovation at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS), Professor for Quality Engineering of Open Distributed Systems (QDS) at the Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), and Director of the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society - The German Internet Institute. Ina is a member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) and an honorary member of the German Testing Board (GTB). Ina’s research interests include quality engineering of open distributed systems, urban data platforms and open data, and digitalisation & transformation towards sustainability. Ina has received awards for her scientific work such as the German Prize for Software Quality (DPSQ), the EUREKA Innovation Award, or the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Award for Young Professors.