Google revamping Captcha verification system to be easier than typing jumbled text

James Delahunty
5 Dec 2014 13:16

Do you get annoyed with recaptcha prompts that require you to identify jumbled up text and type it into a field to prove you are not a robot? Google feels your pain and is trying to help.
The idea behind the recaptca system is simple; you are presented with distorted text and you type the text into a box. This task is possible for humans to solve (though some kind it more difficult than others) but it has been historically difficult for "robots" to perform the same pattern recognition and produce the correct text.
Things have changed however, and Google's own research into modern artificial intelligence showed that the technology can solve even the most difficult variant of distorted text at 99.8% accuracy. Clearly, it is time for a change, and Google had come up with something far more simple.
Here it is.

Google's new API is called "No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA" because for the majority of users will be able to prove they are not robots with a single click. The magic that can tell the difference between a human interaction with the captcha, and a robot interaction, happens in Google's new Advanced Risk Analysis backend.
To be fair, it won't work perfectly the entire time, and some users may have to do on to type in some text if the analysis engine can't confidently predict that it is interacting with a human.
Simplifying Challenges for Touch
While using a mobile device it can be more difficult to confirm that you are not a robot. With touch-screen in mind, Google's new API introduces new challenges that will be much easier for mobile users. In the exactly screenshot below, the user is asked to select all images that match with the main image, and then tap Verify. So in this case, simply selecting images of cats and tapping Verify will be enough to pass the challenge.

Here's a video that Google uploaded to explain "No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA"