diff --git a/confmap/confmaptest/configtest_test.go b/confmap/confmaptest/configtest_test.go
index cf7717071cf..0ae4009c8eb 100644
--- a/confmap/confmaptest/configtest_test.go
+++ b/confmap/confmaptest/configtest_test.go
@@ -33,8 +33,7 @@ func TestLoadConf(t *testing.T) {
 func TestToStringMapSanitizeEmptySlice(t *testing.T) {
 	cfg, err := LoadConf(filepath.Join("testdata", "empty-slice.yaml"))
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	var nilSlice []interface{}
-	assert.Equal(t, map[string]any{"slice": nilSlice}, cfg.ToStringMap())
+	assert.Equal(t, map[string]any{"slice": []interface{}{}}, cfg.ToStringMap())
 }
 
 func TestValidateProviderScheme(t *testing.T) {