Forrester is out with a new Trends Report that speaks directly to what Appvance pioneered with AIQ, our generative AI powered software testing platform. Titled “The Future of TuringBots” and subtitled “TuringBots Will Be Development Teams’ Best Companions”, it provides helpful context about the rapid rise of generative AI across the entire Digital Value Stream (DVS), with particular attention to testing.
We were happy to provide lead author Diego Lo Giudice with insight into how our AIQ platform operates and are thankful that Appvance is included among the use case examples in the report.
What the heck is a TuringBot?
Forrester defines “AI-powered software that augments application development” as TuringBots, Turing’s many contributions to computing include the Turing Test, which he originally called the Imitation Game. This is “a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human,” per Wikipedia.
A TuringBot should augment a developer or QA engineer in a way that is indistinguishable from that of a human, other than being vastly more productive than a human.
Forrester notes that TuringBots are not generalized AI bots like ChatGPT. Rather, “TuringBots are specialized bot assistants specifically created for development teams and their stakeholders.”
The obvious advantage of TuringBots is that they “generate all sorts of product development assets in seconds.” the report states. Indeed, that is the case with AIQ, which famously generates an entire suite of tests on a moment’s notice.
In a savvy observation, the report states that “TuringBots accelerate all aspects of the SDLC, not just coding”. Let’s now turn our attention to one of the first aspects of the SDLC/DVS helped by TuringBots.
First up for TuringBots: Testing
The report notes that so-called Tester TuringBots “make testing smarter and faster”, noting that “software testing has become key in the SDLC ever since agile-plus-DevOps has been around.”
Regarding timing, the report goes on to say that “coding and testing will be the first stages of the SDLC to significantly increase productivity with coder and tester TuringBots.”
This is an unremarkable statement for AIQ users, who have benefited immensely over recent years by the auto generation and execution of testing that AIQ provides. However, it is helpful that an authority such as Forrester would note it.
Long Term: Autonomous Software Creation
The reports says that in the long term “TuringBots become autonomous but stakeholder-supervised”. We at Appvance agree and are already seeing customers integrate AIQ into toolchains that use generative AI upstream and downstream from testing in the DVS.
In short, AIQ has the TuringBot need covered for QA and is designed for integration. Hence, AIQ plays a key role in the autonomous software creation foreseen by Forrester in their TuringBot report.
The Future is Here
The Forrester report shares that “AI has progressed at the speed of light in the past six to 12 months”. Indeed it has, but most encouraging is how it is being applied to real-world challenges like software quality. AIQ is evidence of that real-world use of generative AI.
