Is detecting a flaw the same as understanding how it got there?

The news about AI cheating in schools got me thinking about integrity in my own field. I can find a crack in a girder with the right tools, but knowing whether it came from fatigue or a bad weld is a whole different thing—requires trust in the process, not just the reading. Does perfect detection even matter if we lose the story behind the error? Just something I've been turning over while sipping coffee this morning.