Applitools, a provider of next-generation test automation platforms through Visual AI and Ultrafast Test Cloud, was highlighted in the 2021 State of AI applied to Quality Engineering report.

The report by Sogeti, part of the Capgemini Group, analyses how Visual AI is delivering the next generation of functional, visual, and cross-browser and device testing.

"As a leader in quality engineering, Applitools and its Visual AI technology is evolving nearly every aspect of how quality software is delivered today," says Sogeti group CTO for Quality Engineering, Antoine Aymer.

"As a mature technology adopted by leading brands across vertical industries, Visual AI is critical in helping accelerate the delivery of digital experiences through the enablement of modern engineering practices."

Applitools says today's software engineering teams face increasing application complexity, an explosion of device and browser combinations, and constant business pressure to release faster. This results in an increasingly challenging quality problem that traditional test automation approaches cannot scale to address. Any delay between code check-in and defect detection creates friction for developers, and waiting for a completed UI introduces delays for testing, putting release schedules at risk due to defects discovered late in the development cycle.

"The Sogeti report shares insights for how AI is being applied to quality engineering and evolving the roles of developers and testers," says Applitools VP and AI Evangelist, Mark Lambert.

"Visual AI frees engineering teams from mundane and repetitive tasks, resulting in fundamental increases in efficiency and overall cost reductions associated with quality. We're excited to see that Visual AI continues to be recognised by industry leaders as a critical part of a modern software delivery pipeline."

Applitools' Visual AI provides three core capabilities that make it possible for teams to identify regressions between snapshots of the user interface during active development:

• Highly accurate comparison algorithms ensure developers are not plagued with false positives, a challenge faced with the traditional pixel matching approach to visual testing.
• Automated maintenance significantly reduces overhead by grouping and categorising visual defects, enabling the team to check steps across multiple tests and environments quickly.
• Accelerated cross-browser testing, running validation across all combinations of browsers, devices and view port combinations in seconds.

How does Visual AI increase release velocity?

Applitools' Visual AI integrates directly into a team's existing test automation practice and enables complete automated regressions of the user interface with a single snapshot or line of code. By reducing the amount of test code required, and the use of brittle element locators, tests are authored 5.8x faster, with a corresponding 3.8x reduction in test maintenance, while increasing test coverage to catch 45% more bugs.

According to Applitools, the accuracy and efficiency of Visual AI enables accelerated cross-browser testing 18.2x faster than traditional cloud execution platforms, rendering across any combination of browsers, devices and view ports in seconds vs minutes or hours.