Hard to describe, easy to spot.
Some people write tests that are tightly coupled to their particular implementation.
They might have tons of setup code in each test. So refactoring means each test needs extensive rewrites.
Or there will be loads of asserts that have little to do with the actual thing being tested.
These tests usually have negative value as your only real option as another developer is to simply delete them all and start again.
That's what I would interpret the GP as meaning when they use the phrase "change detection" tests.
That is not due to people choice but due to what actual code being tested does.
I think integration tests and end to end tests are much better.
Hard to describe, easy to spot.
Some people write tests that are tightly coupled to their particular implementation.
They might have tons of setup code in each test. So refactoring means each test needs extensive rewrites.
Or there will be loads of asserts that have little to do with the actual thing being tested.
These tests usually have negative value as your only real option as another developer is to simply delete them all and start again.
That's what I would interpret the GP as meaning when they use the phrase "change detection" tests.