Current:Home > reviewsIndexbit Exchange:Are you a robot? Study finds bots better than humans at passing pesky CAPTCHA tests -Elevate Profit Vision
Indexbit Exchange:Are you a robot? Study finds bots better than humans at passing pesky CAPTCHA tests
PredictIQ View
Date:2025-04-07 22:52:36
We've all been there: You click on Indexbit Exchangea website and are immediately directed to respond to a series of puzzles requiring that you identify images of buses, bicycles and traffic lights before you can go any further.
For more than two decades, these so-called CAPTCHA tests have been deployed as a security mechanism, faithfully guarding the doors to many websites. The long acronym — standing for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart — started out as a distorted series of letters and numbers that users had to transcribe to prove their humanity.
But throughout the years, evolving techniques to bypass the tests have required that CAPTCHAs themselves become more sophisticated to keep out potentially harmful bots that could scrape website content, create accounts and post fake comments or reviews.
First day of school:Think twice about that first-day-of-school photo: Tips for keeping kids safe online this school year
Now perhaps more common are those pesky image verification puzzles. You know, the ones that prompt you to click on all the images that include things like bridges and trucks?
It's a tedious process, but one crucial for websites to keep out bots and the hackers who want to bypass those protections. Or is it?
Study finds bots more adept than humans at solving CAPTCHA
A recent study found that not only are bots more accurate than humans in solving those infamous CAPTCHA tests designed to keep them out of websites, but they're faster, too. The findings call into question whether CAPTCHA security measures are even worth the frustration they cause website users forced to crack the puzzles every day.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine recruited 1,400 people to take 10 CAPTCHA tests each on websites that use the puzzles, which they said account for 120 of the world’s 200 most popular websites.
The subjects were tested on how quickly and accurately they could solve various forms of the tests, such as image recognition, puzzle sliders and distorted text. Researchers then compared their successes to those of a number of bots coded with the purpose of beating CAPTCHA tests.
The study was published last month on arxiv, a free distribution service and repository of scholarly articles owned by Cornell University that have not yet been peer-reviewed.
"Automated bots pose a significant challenge for, and danger to, many website operators and providers," the researchers wrote in the paper. "Given this long-standing and still-ongoing arms race, it is critical to investigate how long it takes legitimate users to solve modern CAPTCHAs, and how they are perceived by those users."
Findings: Bots solved tests nearly every time
According to the study's findings, researchers found bots solved distorted-text CAPTCHA tests correctly just barely shy of 100% of the time. For comparison, we lowly humans achieved between 50% and 84% accuracy.
Moreover, humans required up to 15 seconds to solve the challenges, while our robot overlords decoded the problems in less than a second.
The only exception was for Google's image-based reCAPTCHA, where the average 18 seconds it took humans to bypass the test was just slightly longer than the bots’ time of 17.5 seconds. However, bots could still solve them with 85% accuracy.
The conclusions, according to researchers, reflect the advances in computer vision and machine learning among artificial intelligence, as well as the proliferation of "sweatshop-like operations where humans are paid to solve CAPTCHA," they wrote.
iPhone settlement:Apple agrees to pay up to $500 million in settlement over slowed-down iPhones: What to know
Because CAPTCHA tests appear to be falling short of their goal of repelling bots, researchers are now calling for innovative approaches to protect websites.
"We do know for sure that they are very much unloved. We didn't have to do a study to come to that conclusion," team lead Gene Tsudik of the University of California, Irvine, told New Scientist. "But people don't know whether that effort, that colossal global effort that is invested into solving CAPTCHAs every day, every year, every month, whether that effort is actually worthwhile."
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected].
veryGood! (65122)
Related
- Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
- Jesmyn Ward, James McBride among authors nominated at 10th annual Kirkus Prizes
- Ditch the Bug Spray for These $8 Mosquito Repellent Bracelets With 11,200+ 5-Star Amazon Reviews
- Civil rights advocates defend a North Carolina court justice suing over a probe for speaking out
- John Galliano out at Maison Margiela, capping year of fashion designer musical chairs
- Autopsy reveals what caused death of former American champion swimmer Jamie Cail
- Mitch McConnell appears to freeze again during exchange with reporters
- Meg Ryan returns to rom-coms with 'What Happens Later' alongside David Duchovny: Watch trailer
- How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
- Meg Ryan returns to rom-coms with 'What Happens Later' alongside David Duchovny: Watch trailer
Ranking
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Forecasters warn of increased fire risk in Hawaii amid gusty winds, low humidity
- Trump launched an ambitious effort to end HIV. House Republicans want to defund it.
- Jesmyn Ward, James McBride among authors nominated at 10th annual Kirkus Prizes
- What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
- Allow This Photo of Daniel Radcliffe In His Underwear to Put a Spell On You
- A building fire has killed at least 58 people, many homeless, in Johannesburg, authorities say
- 'Bottoms' review: Broken noses and bloodshed mark this refreshingly unhinged teen comedy
Recommendation
Juan Soto praise of Mets' future a tough sight for Yankees, but World Series goal remains
Justin Theroux Sparks Romance Rumors With Gilded Age Actress Nicole Brydon Bloom After PDA Outing
Listen Up, Dolls: A Barbie V. Bratz TV Series Is In the Works
Giuliani sanctioned by judge in defamation case brought by 2 Georgia election workers
The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
Mitch McConnell appears to freeze again during exchange with reporters
Onshore Wind Is Poised to Grow, and Move Away from Boom and Bust Cycles
Japan’s Sogo & Seibu department stores are being sold to a US fund as 900 workers go on strike