Flowing with AI's growth highlighted at skills event

The addition of the seven new skills: unmanned aerial systems, digital interactive media design, rail vehicle technology, intelligent security technology, software testing, dental prosthetics and retail sales, was the consensus of all members participating in the event — dubbed the "Skills Olympics" — said Wu, who is also secretary-general of the competition's organizing committee secretariat.

Li Junyu, a backup Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Polytechnic team member in the software testing competition, is also confident AI will not replace programmers.

"As AI becomes more involved in software development, testing will also need to determine whether the answers generated by AI are correct," said Li.

"AI will be more of a tool for improving efficiency. Humans will still need to make the final judgment on the accuracy and authenticity of the answers it generates."

Cai Lizhi, director of the Shanghai Development Center of Computer Software Technology, said software engineering, development and testing all play different roles.

"Software testing helps developers correct their own mistakes, making it easier to identify more bugs," Cai told the Shanghai Observer.

AI has developed from a simple tool for software testing into a partner, Cai said. Working with AI as a team can significantly raise efficiency. For example, the China training base system for the 48th World-Skills Competition featured AI testing tools to assist competitors.

"Against this backdrop of technological development, software testing engineers can acquire knowledge of relevant industries and apply the new skills across fields. If you can make AI handle repetitive tasks, engineers can deal with other software problems," Cai said.