AI Doesn't Replace QA Engineers. It Removes the Work We Never Wanted to Do.

Murilo Mattos — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 21:11:05 +0000

Every few weeks, a new headline claims that AI will replace QA Engineers.

As someone who spends every day building software, designing automation frameworks, and developing AI-powered testing tools, I don't think that's what is happening.

The biggest impact of AI isn't replacing Quality Engineers.

It's changing where we spend our time.

The Problem Was Never Testing

Most engineers don't enjoy maintaining broken selectors.

They don't enjoy updating hundreds of automated tests after a small UI change.

They don't enjoy investigating flaky tests caused by timing issues.

Yet that's where a significant portion of test automation effort has gone over the last decade.

We became experts at maintaining automation instead of improving software quality.

That's not a Quality Engineering problem.

That's an engineering productivity problem.

AI Changes the Abstraction

Traditional UI automation depends on technical details.

CSS selectors.

XPath.

DOM structure.

Element IDs.

The problem is that users don't think in selectors.

Engineers don't think in selectors either.

When we describe a feature, we naturally say things like:

"Open the login page, enter valid credentials and verify that the dashboard is displayed."

Not:

"Click #btn-login after locating input(2)..."

Large Language Models are finally allowing automation to understand software closer to the way humans describe it.

Instead of teaching engineers how the DOM works, we're teaching machines how users interact with applications.

That is a fundamental shift.

AI Doesn't Understand Risk

Despite all the excitement around AI, there are things it still cannot decide.

It doesn't know which customer journey is the most valuable.

It doesn't understand business priorities.

It cannot decide whether a regression is acceptable.

It cannot negotiate trade-offs between delivery speed and quality.

Those decisions still require engineering judgment.

Quality has always been about risk management.

AI helps us analyze risk.

It doesn't own it.

What Engineers Should Focus On Instead

As repetitive work becomes automated, the value of a Quality Engineer changes.

Less time maintaining locators.

More time understanding architecture.

Less time fixing flaky tests.

More time designing reliable quality strategies.

Less time writing repetitive automation.

More time collaborating with developers to prevent defects before they exist.

That's a much more valuable use of engineering talent.

My Perspective

Building AI-powered testing solutions has reinforced one belief.

The future of Quality Engineering isn't about replacing engineers.

It's about removing the repetitive work that prevents engineers from solving meaningful problems.

The companies that benefit the most from AI won't be the ones trying to eliminate QA teams.

They'll be the ones enabling those teams to focus on architecture, risk analysis, software design and product quality.

AI isn't replacing engineers.

It's giving good engineers more leverage.

And I believe that's where modern Quality Engineering is heading.

What do you think?

Has AI changed the way you approach software testing, or is it still solving the wrong problems?

DEV Community: Murilo Mattos

AI Doesn't Replace QA Engineers. It Removes the Work We Never Wanted to Do.