I mean, robots can do heaps of complex things these days.

So what is stopping them from ticking a simple check box?

Well, the box is a newer version of a system that used to be called CAPTCHA.

CAPTCHA: completely automated public turing test to tell computers and humans apart.

You might remember they used to look like this.

But as robots got smarter CAPTCHAs got harder and they became completely inaccessible to the vision impaired.

And the rest of us.

Is that even a fucking letter?

By 2014, Google had designed A I software that could pass 99.8% of CAPTCHA tests while humans were only passing 33% of them.

Maybe it's a magic eye.

I think I see a dolphin.

Meanwhile, spammers without supercomputers could still get around CAPTCHAs by paying workers in digital sweatshops to solve them at a rate of 30 US cents per 1000 CAPTCHA sold.

Now these services are still online today.

What's their address?

So that's why Google invented the box.

They call it reCAPTCHA.

So now I just click the box that says I'm human and that's it?

In this case, yep.

Well, why can't a robot do that?

Well, they can.

But the click isn't the test, the test comes before the click.

Like the way your mouse moves towards that box.

Google tracks that kind of thing.

A cursor controlled by a bot moves in a suspiciously straight line at a consistent speed.

Whereas your mouse movements are, well, uh they're only human.

Exactly.

If the side's still unsure, you'll have to click on the squares with fire hydrants or crosswalks or traffic lights.

Google hasn't told us how reCAPTCHA works exactly.

But experts think this traffic light section might also be a mouse movement test, which is why you passed even though you missed two millimeters of traffic light room in the second square.

Well, I'm only human. -So true.

So what's stopping spammers from paying sweatshops to beat these new CAPTCHAs?

Nothing.

Their workers get paid a whole $1 to complete 1000 CAPTCHAs.

But there is just one, tiny other little thing.

Yeah?

Modern reCAPTCHAs also examine your browsing history. - What?

Your previous internet activity is the clearest giveaway of who is human and what's a bot.

Bots for instance, don't generally Google themselves while perving on pictures of young King Charles and looking into forehead reduction surgery.

I did not give them permission to do that.

You gave Google permission to. - I did not.

Yes, you did check the privacy link.

It takes you straight to Google's privacy statement which has this video.

We also collect info as you use our services like the searches you make, ads you interact with and visits to websites that use our services.

Google assumes permission to track you all the time.

In fact, the latest versions of reCAPTCHA don't even need you to tick a box.

They just use your tracking info.

And well done, you pass by exhibiting incompetence at every turn.

You must be human.

What?

Don't worry, human error looks really good on you, girl.

Anyway, thank you for the intel. Plato humans.