A new study from Leapwork looks at how software testers approach AI and what determines confidence in its use. It shows most organizations now view AI as a priority for their future testing strategy, but confidence in AI driven testing depends on accuracy, reliability, and the ability to keep tests current as applications change.
The study gathered responses from more than 300 software engineers, QA leaders, and IT decision makers at large and midsize organizations worldwide. Among the findings 88 percent of respondents say AI is a priority for their organization’s future testing strategy, with 46 percent rating it as critical or high priority
In addition 80 percent say AI will have a positive impact on testing over the next two years. 65 percent currently use or explore AI across one or more testing activities, though only 12.6 percent use AI across key test workflows today.
Concerns center around accuracy, 54 percent cited worries about accuracy and quality as factors that hold back broader use of AI in testing. Tests that break too often, difficulty automating flows across systems, and the time required to update tests ranked as the top reasons teams struggle to automate more testing. 45 percent say it takes three days or more to update tests after a change in a critical system.
“It is no longer a question of whether testing teams will leverage agentic capabilities in their work. The question is how confidently and predictably they can rely on it,” says Kenneth Ziegler, CEO of Leapwork. “Our research shows teams want AI to help them move faster, expand coverage, and reduce effort, but accuracy remains table stakes. The real opportunity lies in applying and integrating AI alongside stable automation, so teams gain speed and scale without sacrificing trust in outcomes.”
Despite growing AI use there’s still a good deal of manual effort involved. On average, only 41 percent of testing is automated today. 71 percent of respondents say test creation slows their teams down the most, followed by test maintenance at 56 percent. 54 percent cite lack of time as a barrier to adopting or improving test automation.
The full report is available from the Leapwork site.
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