42% of testers can't script. AI writes 41%

42% of testers can't write automation scripts (State of Testing 2024). ~41% of committed code is now AI-generated (GitHub 2025). And the State of Testing 2026 says around 66% of testers are anxious about AI replacing them. But people actually using AI tools daily are 4x less concerned. Interesting gap.

The stuff that's going away: writing CSS selectors, maintaining page object models, updating locators after every UI change, manual test execution. This is the 60-70% of testing budgets that goes to maintenance. Exactly the work AI is already good enough to handle.

The stuff that's getting more important: figuring out what should be tested. Understanding business logic well enough to know what "correct" means. Evaluating whether AI-generated tests actually validate anything meaningful or just execute without errors. Someone still needs to connect test evidence to audit controls, and that requires judgment not scripting.

The irony: that 42% who can't write scripts? The scripting part is exactly what's being automated. The judgment and strategy part isn't. But most QA roles are still defined around execution, not strategy...

What percentage of your week is maintenance/execution vs strategy/analysis? That ratio basically tells you how future-proof your role is.