Google Replacing CAPTCHAs With “I’m Not A Robot” Check Box

Almost every Internet user has come across a CAPTCHA security check — you know, the thing where you have to enter in a jumbled set of letters and numbers, often with lines drawn through them — and had absolutely no idea how to decipher it. This is frustrating and it’s not actually effective, so Google’s reCAPTCHA folks have come up with a new idea: Just asking if you’re a robot.

Dubbed “No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA,” the new system just looks like a check box that reads “I’m not a robot,” but Google says “there is a high degree of sophistication behind that modest checkbox.”

The company isn’t explaining exactly how it determines whether or not the user clicking on that box is indeed a non-robot, but claims that most people will not be required to enter any additional information beyond the one mouse click.

Google says that the old, confusing CAPTCHAs with distorted text are no longer effective, as sophisticated AI tech can crack even the most complicated images.

In the case that the new system can’t instantly determine that you aren’t robotic, you may be asked to enter a number string.

Mobile users will actually come across a new system that is more friendly to phone screens. It asks users to make choices that are natural for a human mind to make but not exactly easy for a computer.

In the below examples, users are shown images and asked to click similar pictures from an array of images:

Of course, one could argue that all the photos beneath the Turkey image are related, given that the non-fowl photos appear to be Thanksgiving or holiday-themed. Hopefully, real-life examples will be more cut-and-dry.

For our money, there is only one dependable way to tell is someone is a robot or not, and it’s called the Voight-Kampff Test:

by Chris Morran via Consumerist