SmartBear recently announced its acquisition of Reflect, a no-code testing platform for web applications that utilizes generative artificial intelligence (AI) to create and execute tests. The Reflect platform will be initially integrated into SmartBear’s existing Test Hub platform, with plans to extend its generative AI capabilities to other platforms in the future.

Reflect’s testing platform offers a natural language interface, enabling users to create tests using large language models (LLMs) and understand the intent of a test even if elements shift within a user interface. Approved test step definitions can be automatically executed using scripts generated by the platform.

SmartBear, in its tenth acquisition, aims to provide lightweight hubs for testing, API development, and application performance and user experience analysis. The company focuses on offering accessible hubs that are easy to invoke, deploy, and maintain, avoiding the need for a monolithic platform that requires organizations to replace existing tools.

Rather than developing its own LLMs, SmartBear concentrates on providing tools and engineering techniques to operationalize them effectively. Generative AI is expected to significantly impact application testing, enhancing test quality by reducing the time required to create tests, enabling more thorough testing.

Generative AI’s influence on testing processes is likely to lead to changes in how testing responsibilities are managed within DevOps workflows. The increasing automation of workflows using generative AI may prompt DevOps teams to redefine roles and responsibilities, streamlining and enhancing overall efficiency in their processes.