Critical thinking and analytical skills have always been vital in the testing profession, although they haven’t always had the attention they deserve. We invest a lot of time learning how to use tools but hardly any time enhancing our thinking, analysing, inspecting, questioning and reasoning skills.

Future generations are growing up with AI embedded in their lives, and they will come to rely on it more and more to help them with day to day tasks. But there is an inherent risk that this reliance will see humans in the future starting to lose the ability to think for themselves.

Early studies have already shown that an increased reliance on AI tools is linked to diminished critical thinking abilities, affecting memory, attention span, and problem-solving abilities. In the future our world will be defined by those who retain the ability to think critically, plan strategically and adapt quickly, and those who lose those skills will be left behind. The biases that shape AI could be driven by a select few, which brings its own risks.

But rather than be fearful of AI, there are things that we can do to work with it whilst retaining our own cognitive abilities.

Join me as we journey through studies that show the impact on human cognitive ability from overly relying on AI, and address how we can avoid the same trap by leveraging AI as a powerful tool to augment our own human abilities, not replace them.

We will define what we mean by critical thinking, the importance of nurturing our critical thinking skills, explore practical strategies for honing our skills, and look at how we can empower others to also develop and refine their own cognitive abilities, with practical steps that you can take away to help you navigate this new world.

Steve Watson is an experienced Quality Engineering Manager who leads and coaches testers to help them to be the best they can be.

As a Senior Quality Engineering Manager at easyJet, he is responsible for the overall testing strategy and standards within the Airline Operations area, managing an offshore testing function and the testing budget. His mission is to ensure that Quality Engineering is embedded as early as possible to add value, working with key business and IT stakeholders to identify improvement areas and gain buy-in and support to implement change.

Steve has vast experience in a variety of domains – banking & finance, vehicle leasing, chemical pricing and aerospace, and has spent most of his professional career in the testing & quality engineering space.

As a member of the British Computer Society, Steve cares about improving how we test as an industry, and he writes a blog to share his personal thoughts and ideas – http://stevethedoc.wordpress.com/

Steve has spoken at a number of conferences over the past 14 years, including the National Software Testing Conference, Test Expo, UKStar and HUSTEF, facilitated a Zoom roundtable event, ran a BDD interactive workshop at a UK Meetup, and has been a guest on the Testing Peers podcast.

When Steve is not testing, you’ll find him broadcasting a Saturday morning radio show on a local community station in East Sussex, UK, where he has volunteered for the past 12 years.