The fine print of using AI tools in testing

We’ve all seen it. That familiar line tucked away at the bottom of every mutual fund investment ad:

Translation? You could lose money. A lot of it. So, it’s important to read the fine print. Pay attention. Know what you’re walking into.

Now, here’s the thing: AI tools? They need a disclaimer too. A big, bold one. Because AI, especially those shiny large language models — can be brilliant one moment, and utterly bad the next. They don’t just get things wrong.

• They hallucinate.
• They misinterpret.
• They get overconfident.
• And the worst part? They say it all with confidence. Crisp. Clean. Convincing. So convincing, that you might not question it. You might ship it. You might stake your name on it.

But here’s the truth: When you lean on AI without thinking, you’re outsourcing your judgment to a very clever guesser. A machine that doesn’t know – it only predicts.

That’s why I propose a new kind of warning label:

“AI responses may suffer from hallucinations, overconfidence, and knowledge gaps. Review all outputs carefully. There’s no refund on lost credibility.”

Proposal by Rahul Parwal (April 2025)

Sound dramatic? Maybe. But ask anyone who’s sent out a buggy test case or document, written by ChatGPT, without checking.

You don’t just lose time. You lose trust. Sometimes, you lose face.

So here’s my advice. Use it. Don’t lose it.
🧠 Treat AI responses as a starting point and not the endpoint.
🔍 Read the fine print. Check everything. Even the obvious.
🛠 Fix what feels off—before it lands in someone else’s inbox.

Because all it takes is one bad AI moment. One glitch dressed as a genius. And suddenly, the expert looks like a fool.

Check an example here: Job seeker seeks ChatGPT’s help for email, forgets to delete prompt: ‘Rephrased version of this mail’ | Today News

Prompt wisely. Test smarter. Own your responsibility.

Rahul Parwal

If you are interested to learn how to use AI wisely as a tester, check out my AI usage for testers: Quadrants model – Rahul’s Testing Titbits

Also, if you want to learn and master the art of prompting, check this out: Prompting for Testers | Ministry of Testing