CAPTCHA

I was asked to select the boxes with traffic lights to prove I wasn’t a bot.

I’ve done it hundreds if not thousands of times, but this time I thought: "If AI is so smart, why can't it solve a simple CAPTCHA?" 

We writers are a curious lot, and a minimal amount of research unveiled that the traffic lights aren't really the test.

It seems that modern CAPTCHAs don't care much whether you can spot a traffic light. They care whether you behave like a human while doing it. How you move the mouse. How long you hesitate. Whether you click with just enough uncertainty. It's less an eye exam than a vibe check.

So, while AI can often recognize the images with no problem, it isn't built to impersonate a person navigating a website. The pictures are mostly stage props.

The CAPTCHA is like a nightclub bouncer who isn't checking your ID anymore. He's watching how naturally you reach for your wallet.

The fact that AI struggles with a CAPTCHA, doesn't tell me much about AI. It does, however, indicate we're redefining intelligence: more than Can you solve the problem? but also Can you look enough like your average human while solving it?

Unquestionably, AI will move past this and eventually we'll have a new hoop to jump through to say, "I'm human. No really, I am."

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CAPTCHA rejected this suggested update: