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This blog helps you understand why humans are crucial in testing and how to perform automation and manual testing together.
Shwetha Ashokumar
January 13, 2026
Automation testing, artificial intelligence in testing, machine learning …
Technology advancements have always instilled a small fear among humans. On one side, it accelerates the work and makes things easier, but on the other side, there is a misconception that technology alone is enough to run the business.
So, will technology replace humans?
Short answer – No.
Let us dive a little deeper. Automation testing has been around for almost two to three decades now.
There are so many updates, features, or products that are released on a daily basis. These products undergo rigorous testing before they are released in the market.
Every day we see thousands of new products and apps in the market. A lot of testing procedures have to be performed before releasing it. Automation helps you test faster. It focuses on numerical or logical assessments which in turn have to be powered by a tester.
Humans are capable of taking swift decisions on the performance level, which is quite difficult for a machine to accomplish. Manual testing plays a critical role in Quality Assurance. A 100% automated QA team will deliver faster results but will miss out on improving quality. A mix of manual and automated testing helps products improve quality and stability.
Whether to choose automation or manual testing depends on three factors:
Manual tests help you evaluate the efficiency of the product, test value, and discover bugs and areas of improvement, whereas automation helps in testing on a recurring basis, identifying functional bugs, and maintaining the stability of the product. As a tester, you need to decide what kind of test the product needs at the moment and choose accordingly.
Manual tests take less time to write and longer to execute, whereas automation tests take longer time to write and less time to execute. For example, a manual test might take 10 minutes to write and 10 minutes to execute whereas an automation test takes 4 hours to write and 2 minutes to execute. You need to run the test 130 times to get your return on investment for the time spent on writing test scripts. Therefore, as a tester, you need to know which features are worth writing test cases for and those that are not.
Manual testing takes time and therefore if you are short-staffed it is not a wise decision to test everything manually. In such scenarios, it is advised to use your human resources to test new features and automate those that are already in production.
You can refer to the below video tutorial on how to perform manual testing on TestMu AI.
Automation and manual testing are two different entities that cater to different audiences. Therefore it is essential to manage both together.
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