Adopt or Avoid? Good or Bad? Hype is loud, the proof is thin, but only the strongest approach will win. On 12 September, a live Debate on ‘Human Intelligence Software Testing (HIST)’ took place, with Joe Colantonio, Founder of TestGuild, moderating the discussion between Ruslan Desyatnikov and Iosif Itkin. The session began with opening statements, followed by a head-to-head debate examining whether this new testing philosophy represents a genuine breakthrough or a misstep:
Ruslan Desyatnikov: ‘HIST defines a new era of testing in a world over-obsessed with automation and AI: disciplined, intelligent, and risk-aware, where quality is validated through evidence and metrics, not assumptions.’
Iosif Itkin: ‘It is a textbook example of what makes a test approach bad.’
CEO & Co-Founder, Exactpro
Founder & CEO of QA Mentor
Parties agreed to present arguments on the three propositions:
- Fluff or Substance – HIST is mostly fluff (Yes/No)
- Fair or Misleading – HIST uses strawman comparisons and misrepresents (Yes/No)
- Efficiency Impact – HIST recommendations lead to bad testing (Yes/No)
Iosif Itkin
CEO & Co-Founder, Exactpro
Iosif Itkin is a co-founder & co-CEO of Exactpro, an independent provider of software testing services. Founded in 2009, headquartered in the UK, Exactpro operates delivery centres in several countries. Exactpro clients are financial market infrastructures worldwide. The company helps to improve scalability, latency, and operational resiliency, obtain competitive advantage, decrease time to market, and maintain regulatory compliance. Exactpro offers AI Testing training and shares materials on their youtube channel. Iosif is a practicing software tester and advisor in high availability systems and test strategy review.
Ruslan Desyatnikov
Founder & CEO of QA Mentor
Ruslan Desyatnikov is the Founder & CEO of QA Mentor, Inc., a global, multi-award-winning software testing company serving over 450 clients across 28 countries. With 28 years of experience, he has built and led large-scale QA organizations at Citi and HSBC, conducted 118+ QA Audits and transformation projects, authored multiple proprietary QA methodologies, and developed a suite of e-learning courses that have trained thousands of testers worldwide. Recognized as Testing Leader of the Year 2024 by the North American Testing Awards and a proud member of the Forbes Technology Council where he published multiple articles. Ruslan is the creator of Human Intelligence Software Testing (HIST) and Investigative Testing disciplines, pioneering frameworks that challenge outdated industry practices and restore discipline, risk-awareness, and human judgment in QA. His mission is to save the QA craft from disappearing, restore its place as an important profession in the AI era, and inspire the next generation of testers to carry it forward with pride and discipline.
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