Green AI-Generated Tests Can Pass While Testing Nothing, Experts Warn
AI coding assistants can generate test suites that pass consistently yet fail to catch real bugs, creating a false sense of security for developers. The core problem is that a passing test only proves the code ran, not that the logic is actually verified. Mutation testing tools, such as Gremlins for Go, address this by deliberately introducing small code errors and checking whether tests detect them, producing a "mutation score" that reflects true test effectiveness. Unlike standard code coverage metrics, mutation scores reveal whether tests can actually fail when the code breaks. Developers are advised to require every AI-generated test to demonstrate it can produce a failure before it is merged into a codebase.
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