TLDR
The QA Engineer role is becoming obsolete in most commercial software organizations not because quality matters less, but because testing is dissolving into infrastructure. Agentic AI will handle routine test automation (unit, integration, regression, UI verification) directly in CI/CD pipelines, eliminating the 60-70% of QA time currently spent maintaining brittle test scripts. The role doesn't disappear, it transforms. QA engineers transition from test executors to quality architects. This is already happening in forward-thinking organizations.
The Future of Quality Assurance
For decades, Quality Assurance has been the backbone of software development. Every project requires dedicated teams, meticulous test plans, and rigorous quality gates to ensure software is release-ready. The QA engineer carefully documenting bugs and verifying functionality has been a fixture in tech organizations.
But what if this role is becoming obsolete?
There's a thesis gaining traction in the industry: QA as a discipline is not disappearing, it's dissolving into infrastructure and developer tooling.
Routine testing (unit, integration, regression, UI verification) is becoming fully automated and embedded directly into CI/CD pipelines, powered by AI agents that can write, maintain, and execute tests autonomously.
The result? QA Engineer as a distinct role wil largely dissapeat in most commercial software organizations, much like the "webmaster" did two decades ago.
This isn't science fiction. It's already happening.
The Webmaster Moment: When Roles Evaporate, Not Downgrade
In the 1990s, every companies needed a webmaster. These specialists handled everything such as DNS configuration, server management, HTML markup and content deployment. They were gatekeepers of the online presence.
Then the web management was abstracted in to platforms. Tools like WordPress, Shopify, and AWS abstracted away the complexity. Suddenly, marketers could deploy content. Developers could manage infrastructure. Specialized roles like front-end developers, sysadmins emerged to handle what webmasters once monopolized.
The webmaster didn't evolve. The role dissloved.
The tasks didn't disappear, they distributed across the companies as automated platforms made them accessible to anyone.
QA is following the same trajectory.
Today, most companies still maintain the ritual: developers finish a feature, hand it off to QA, wait for test results, cycle through fixes. But this handoff model is breaking under its own weight. As software complexity increases, the maintenance burden on QA teams becomes unsustainable.
The Maintenance Tax: Why Traditional QA Is Collapsing
Ask any QA engineer what frustrates them most, and it's rarely "finding bugs." It's maintaining tests.
Traditional automation tools like Selenium and Cypress rely on DOM selectors, they interact with the hidden code skeleton of a website. When a developer changes a CSS class name, relocates a button to a new container, or refactors component structure, tests break. Completely. Even though the application functions perfectly for real users, the brittle scripts fail.
The maintenance tax is brutal: QA teams spend 60-70% of their time not finding bugs, but fixing broken test scripts. Every UI change triggers a cascade of updates. Small refactors become hours of debugging XPath expressions and selector chains.
This is why test automation has a notorious failure rate. Studies show that automation projects often deliver less value than expected because the cost of maintenance outpaces the cost of manual testing. QA teams end up as script mechanics, not quality strategists.
Traditional tools optimized for a world that no longer exists one where UI changes were rare and code structure was stable. Today's agile environment chews through these tools.
The Catalyst: Agentic Testing Changes the Equation
Instead of tools that require brittle selectors and code-level access, we need tools that see screens. This is the premise of agentic test automation tools like AskUI, where AI agents interact with applications the way humans do.
The advantages are concrete:
-
Perception over Selectors: Traditional tools like Selenium force you to specify that a login button is a
<button class="btn-primary">. AskUI AI agent works differently: you simply tell the system "Click the Login button." If the AI can see it on screen, it can interact with it. CSS class changes, HTML refactors, component restructuring none of it matters. The test remains stable because it operates at the visual level, not the code level. -
Autonomous Adaption: When UI changes, conventional scripts fail. Agentic system recognizes the element’s functional role and adapts its path automatically. The maintenance tax currently consuming 60-70% of engineering effort gone, as the agent handles UI evolutions without human intervention.
-
Cross-Platform Continuity: Agentic systems combine visual perception with controlled execution enabling them to operate consistently across different environments such as browsers, native desktop apps, and mobile interfaces.
-
Goal-Based Automation. Instead of writing step-by-step test scripts, engineers define high-level goals in natural language. Tell the agent "Validate the checkout flow," and it figures out the steps, handles variations, and adapts when the UI changes. This represents a fundamental shift from maintaining scripts to architecting quality intent.
This shifts the entire value proposition. Testing moves from execute predetermined scripts to define quality intent and let agent handle execution.
What Happens to QA Engineers?
The role doesn't vanish it transforms.
As infrastructure handles routine verification, QA professionals transition from checkers to architects. Instead of documenting bugs and fixing broken selectors, they define quality strategy, design test coverage architecture, and conduct exploratory testing on high-risk features.
In this new model, QA engineers:
- Design quality frameworks rather than execute test cases
- Conduct exploratory and risk-based testing on areas where automation can't provide full coverage
- Architect test infrastructure that evolves with the application
- Mentor developers on quality practices and test design
The title might change Quality Strategist, Quality Architect, Test Architect but the discipline becomes more influential, not less. Quality doesn't diminish, it's elevated from a gating function to a continuous, embedded capability.
The Exception: Safety-Critical Domains
There's an important caveat.
In safety-critical industries automotive (ISO 26262), medical devices (FDA), avionics (DO-178C), QA teams will remain distinct, specialized roles. Regulatory requirements demand traceability, documented test cases, and human oversight that pure automation cannot satisfy. Agentic AI might verify that a car's infotainment system displays correctly, but human QA engineers will continue verifying SOTIF (Safety of the Intended Functionality) and conducting formal verification.
This transition applies strongly to commercial software, SaaS, consumer applications, and internal tools. In regulated industries, QA roles will evolve but persist.
The Transition Is Already Underway
Some organizations are ahead of the curve. Teams using agentic automation report 40-60% reduction in test maintenance overhead. Agentic testing platforms are starting to handle test generation and refactoring tasks that previously required human engineers.
The question isn't whether this will happen. It's how quickly your organization will adapt.
The "QA Team" as currently structured a group of people executing predefined test cases against each build is becoming an anachronism. But quality as a discipline is becoming more powerful than ever, embedded directly into infrastructure, validated by AI agents, and designed by architects rather than executed by checkers.
For QA professionals, this is an opportunity. The role is evolving from execution to strategy. Those who can transition from "testing" to "quality architecture" will find themselves more valuable, not less.
The webmaster didn't disappear because the web became less important. They disappeared because the web became so important that everyone needed to contribute. QA is heading in the same direction.
The question is: Are you ready to evolve your role before the market forces the issue?
FAQ
Q: Will QA engineers really disappear?
A: The “test executor” role will diminish, but quality as a discipline become more important. QA engineers will transition to architecture and strategy roles
Q: Is agentic test automation really better than Selenuim?
A: Yes, because it perceives pixels like human rather than relying on brittle code, allowing it to automate environments where Selenuim fails, such as .NET Canvas or legacy system.
Q: What should QA engineers do now?
A: Start learning about test architecture, CI/CD automation, and quality strategy. Develop skills in field machines can’t.
Q: What about regulated industries (Automotive, Medical, etc)?
A: A transition will be slower because of strict regulatory requirements like FDA, ISO, but it is inevitable. While AI agents will handle routine verification to speed up cycles and generate comprehensive audit trails, human oversight remains mandatory to make sure final responsibility for safety and SOTIF(Safety of the Intended Functionality) adherence.