Page - vi - in The Future of Software Quality Assurance

vi Foreword So far many of these systems have been used as decisive aids; helping a person tomakea moresubstantiateddecision.Forexample,aphysiciancanhaveanX-ray image analysed by a system and use the information obtained to make his or her decision.Thequestionarises orwill arise: “When is the decisioncompletely left to the system, since the system results show a higher reliability of correctness of the diagnosis than diagnoses of doctors?” In other areas, such as autonomous driving, somedecisionshavetobemadesoquicklythat theycanonlybemadebythesystem itself. In fact, it isnot thesystemthat decides,but thepersonwhohasprogrammedthe systemaccordingly.Atleast that’showithasbeensofar.Whenartificialintelligence isused,however, this isno longerdefinite.Withneuralnetworksanddeep learning, the results are no longerpredictableand thereforeno longerdependdirectly on the programming. These few examples already show how crucial the quality of the systems is and thustheeducationofthepeopleresponsiblefor thedevelopmentandtestingof these systems. This is why iSQI will continue to be a sought-after partner for further trainingandcertification in thecomingyears. In addition to well-founded specialist knowledge, ethical issues will have to be the focus of attention in the coming years. How do we as a society—even as humankind—wanttodealwiththefact thatautonomousweaponsthemselvesdecide whichpeoplearebeingkilled? We must all ask ourselves the question: “Which decisionsmust still be taken by peopleandwhichcanwe delegate to softwaresystems?” We, as participants in the development of software systems, have a particularly highresponsibility forwhat thenear futurewill look likeandwhere itwillgo in the comingyears. I hope thatwe will takeour responsibilityandshape the futurepositively. GTB,HochschuleBremen,Bremen,Germany AndreasSpillner July2019