Machine learning — the new Holy Grail

Machine learning (eventually leading to artificial intelligence) is the current buzzword that's thrown around a lot in the automation sphere. It promises a lot, but what can it actually do for testing?  

Well, theoretically, it can take over the job of a tester by learning how a system works and then using its knowledge to search through the system for known bugs. It sounds amazing (or scary depending upon your point of view), and it is also a bit of a nebulous statement; there are hundreds of different things that testers look at. 

Now this all sounds like doom and gloom: the machine learning apocalypse is coming and all of us testers will soon be obsolete. Well, I don't think that is true. Machine learning systems need to be taught how to do things. If they are not properly trained, they will not work in the way they are expected to work. Also I've worked with lots of talented testers over the years with loads of experience and they have still missed...