Software teams know the story all too well: automation promises speed and reliability, but reality often brings fragile scripts, phantom failures, and endless rework. In the end, the technology intended to accelerate releases ends up bogging things down. Or at least, that’s how things used to be…
Today’s AI-powered functional testing tools change that dynamic. They combine powerful automation with applied intelligence to remove grunt work, strengthen test reliability, and accelerate high-quality software delivery.
1. Cross-Browser and Cross-Device Testing
Today’s software needs to work seamlessly across different browsers and devices, but ensuring consistency can be time-consuming with old-school automation techniques.
Modern solutions simplify this hurdle by allowing scripts to work seamlessly across different devices, operating systems, and browsers.
Intelligent object recognition systems eliminate redundancy across environments, so that once a test is built, it automatically adapts to systems and form factors—eliminating the need to rewrite or revalidate scripts for every configuration.
The result: faster validation, wider coverage, and confident releases every time.
2. Slow, Manual Test Creation — Fixed with AI-Accelerated Test Build
Building new tests can eat up hours of testing effort. This can be especially frustrating when all you’re doing is converting existing manual cases or scaling a current script to include new features.
Thankfully, today’s leading tools eliminate this problem in truly amazing ways:
- Generative AI can instantly turn manual regression steps or business-facing tests into reliable, automated scripts with no coding and minimal effort.
- AI can even create tests from process videos or user journey data.
- If you don’t have existing assets to leverage, codeless automation lets anyone create tests by describing user flows or actions in natural language.
The outcome is faster test creation, broader participation, and less friction every sprint.
3. Broken Scripts After UI Changes — Fixed with AI Object Recognition
UI elements shift. Object names change. Layouts evolve. And every time they do, traditional scripts fall over.
Modern automation tools use machine learning and optical character recognition (OCR) to “see” like a human, automatically recognising controls even after UI alterations. Scripts are automatically adjusted, keeping test flows stable through interface updates.
Teams see a massive reduction in maintenance effort, smoother release cycles, and fewer last-minute production delays. After all, why should a minor label tweak derail a release?
4. Cascading False Failures — Fixed with AI Self-Healing Scripts
Sometimes, a tiny software change in a small area of your solution can trigger your whole automation pack to throw a massive tantrum. Often it’s just a minor development tweak, but it leads to dozens of redundant test failures flooding your dashboards, causing hours of meaningless repair work.
AI-based automation tools have a self-healing engine which removes that pain point altogether. When a change occurs, the AI reviews failed tests, determines whether the shift was intentional, and automatically updates scripts in real-time.
That proactive healing reduces script upkeep, freeing QA resources to focus on test strategy and innovation instead of firefighting.
Remove Automation Headaches with OpenText Functional Test
OpenText Functional Test (formerly UFT One) is the leading AI-powered functional testing tool, serving as the benchmark against which other vendors compare their tools.
It removes the most frustrating barriers to automation success: brittle scripts, false alarms, and duplicated effort.
Do you want less manual repair work, fewer wasted cycles and greater confidence in every release? Get in touch to see Functional Test in action!
