BlinqIO chief says GenAI key in solving ‘huge backlog’ in QA

Tal Barmeir sat down with QA Financial
Tal Barmeir

The software testing space is currently experiencing a “huge backlog” as many firms struggle to find sufficient test automation coders.

According to Tal Barmeir, the co-founder and current chief executive officer of automation testing startup BlinqIO, the answer may be generative artificial intelligence.

Barmeir said in a recent interview that “I think that, in the next five years, GenAI will remove a lot of the tedious parts of work and allow humans to manage and take strategic decisions rather than run around their tails trying to deliver tons of work against deadlines.”

The industry veteran, who is the co-founder of Experitest, a company which provided a SaaS mobile testing platform for Enterprise applications, continued: “In software testing there is currently a huge backlog as test automation coders are difficult to find.”

Barmeir believes that” the GenAI revolution in software testing enables us to unplug this bottleneck by leveraging LLM test agents to boost test automation coding in no time.”

She noted that “AI has significantly impacted several key areas of our business from automated testing, we are using our own AI test engineer to create test automation code for our product itself, to creating meeting summaries and providing us with much needed marketing insights.”

Through these applications, AI has become “a vital asset” in enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and strategic decision-making across organisations, as Barmeir put it.


“In software testing there is currently a huge backlog as test automation coders are difficult to find.”

– Tal Barmeir

When asked by ValiantCEO how she ensures ethical considerations are taken into account in her use of AI, she said: “I think that, as BlinqIO uses GenAI to create test automation code for software functionality there is not much ethical risk. We are just testing our software and ensuring it does what it was meant to.”

Barmeir believes that “AI tools which are defining product functionality to start with are where AI ethical considerations come more into play.”

For the industry to move forward with AI, she thinks high impact use cases, as well as ‘AI literacy’ are vital.

“AI can make a tangible difference, like streamlining operations or enhancing customer experience. Focused applications create measurable wins that build momentum,” Barmeir explained.

“Build AI literacy across teams … through fostering an AI-aware culture by educating teams on its potential and limitations.”

She stressed: “All employees should understand the value of AI in their respective areas and not fear it but rather embrace it to become more productive and remove a lot of the nitty gritty work that no one anyway likes to do.”

‘Human in the loop’

Despite the rapid rise of AI, and spotting its many opportunities, Barmeir does not think the role of human testers and engineers is over. Far from it.

Barmeir, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Experitest with industry insider Guy Arieli, said that “AI is changing the test world forever,” because fully automated test engineers can fully replicate the work of human test automation engineers.

Her latest venture, BlinqIO, has produced an AI test engineer which she claims could be a solution to the problem most financial firms face in recruiting and retaining skilled staff.

“So how does our platform work? Give it scenarios, it will give you code and maintain it,” Barmeir said. “You trigger as many AI test engineers as you want.”

However, answering the question everyone is about AI right now, she added: “We never fully take the human out of the loop; The best part is that you control it, and the human-in-the-loop approves the work at all times.”

BlinqIO co-founder Tal Barmeir at last month's QA Financial Forum
BlinqIO co-founder Tal Barmeir at last year’s QA Financial Forum London

Barmeir and Arieli spoke late last year at the London conference of the QA Financial Forum, a global series of conference and networking meetings for software risk managers, which took place on September 11 in the heart of the British capital.

The agenda was designed to meet the needs of software testers working for banks and other financial firms working in regulated, complex markets.

The full-day event, held at the America Square Conference Center in the heart of the City, brought together more than 100 expert speakers and delegates from leading firms including JP Morgan Chase, LSEG, STOXX, Nationwide, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and a range of others, who shared their insights and experience on topics such as networking testing, data management and the unstoppable rise of artificial intelligence.

Also discussed were timely issues such as enterprise benchmarks for compliance, DORA and regulation, as well as green software, sustainability in testing and overall ESG principles in the QA space.

Please check our special post-conference flipbook by clicking here.


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