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Some big names have already begun replacing humans with AI. Klarna and Duolingo are leading the charge, and on paper, it makes perfect business sense. Doesn't it?
The answer seems obvious: yes, because it's cheaper. But here's the catch that should worry every IT leader. Are you maintaining output, or accelerating your business?
At the recent EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference, Darren Richardson posed a question: "Why would a company replace humans with AI merely to maintain their output?"
Think about that for a moment. You're investing in revolutionary technology to do exactly what you were doing before, just with fewer people. That's not transformation. That's standing still whilst convincing yourself you're moving forward.
Seductive short-term wins might be nice, but...
The best senior engineers I know already use AI brilliantly. They employ tools and automation not to replace their thinking but to amplify it. AI helps them test more scenarios, analyse more data and spot patterns humans might miss. However crucially, the engineers remain in the driver's seat.
When businesses swap people for algorithms purely to cut costs, they're making a dangerous trade. That quarterly report might look healthier, but what about next year? Or the year after? Short-term gains are seductive, but they come with a hidden cost: the gradual erosion of innovation capacity.
The closed loop problem
We've all heard the pitch: AI writes code now, so why do we need engineers? Although, there's a fundamental flaw in this logic that threatens progress as well as jobs.
AI is only as good as its source material, and that source material comes from human creativity and experience. If we stop creating and let AI do all the thinking, we risk drifting towards what Richardson likens to a real-world version of the Dead Internet Theory – not literally, but a loop where AI trains on AI, refining the same ideas without producing anything truly new. Picture it: AI training on AI-generated content, recycling the same ideas in increasingly polished but ultimately stagnant forms.
No engineers means no innovation. No innovation means no breakthrough solutions. Without fresh human insight, you don’t just slow innovation - you cut it off completely. We don't just risk creative stagnation; we actively court it.
Why human creativity still matters
Henry Ford allegedly said that if he'd asked customers what they wanted, they'd have asked for faster horses. That leap from horses to cars? That's human imagination at work - that's the kind of thinking that sees beyond current limitations to entirely new possibilities.
AI excels at optimisation within known parameters. It can make your horses faster, so to speak. Yet, it won't invent the car. It won't challenge assumptions or ask: "what if we tried something completely different?"
This is particularly crucial in quality assurance and testing. The most valuable insights often come from experienced engineers who sense “something's off”, even when all automated tests pass. They bring context, intuition and healthy scepticism that no algorithm can replicate.
Building tomorrow's advantage
First, recognise that the choice isn't between humans or AI. The real competitive advantage comes from combining human creativity with AI's processing power.
Use AI to handle repetitive tasks and process vast datasets, but preserve and nurture the human capacity for original thought, creative problem-solving and intuitive leaps. Your next breakthrough won't come from an algorithm recycling existing patterns. It'll come from someone on your team who sees a connection nobody else has made.
Innovation doesn't happen in isolation. It needs people questioning, creating and pushing boundaries.
The organisations that will dominate tomorrow's landscape will be those who understood that true acceleration comes from amplifying human capability, not replacing it.
