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Anyone who has been surfing the web for a while is probably used to clicking through a CAPTCHA grid of street images, identifying everyday objects to prove that they're a human and not an automated bot. Now, though, new research claims that locally run bots using specially trained image-recognition models can match human-level performance in this style of CAPTCHA, achieving a 100 percent success rate despite being decidedly not human.

ETH Zurich PhD student Andreas Plesner and his colleagues' new research, available as a pre-print paper, focuses on Google's ReCAPTCHA v2, which challenges users to identify which street images in a grid contain items like bicycles, crosswalks, mountains, stairs, or traffic lights. Google began phasing that system out years ago in favor of an "invisible" reCAPTCHA v3 that analyzes user interactions rather than offering an explicit challenge.

Despite this, the older reCAPTCHA v2 is still used by millions of websites. And even sites that use the updated reCAPTCHA v3 will sometimes use reCAPTCHA v2 as a fallback when the updated system gives a user a low "human" confidence rating.

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[-] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 90 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

This is actually a good sign for self driving. Google was using this data as a training set for Waymo. If AI is accurately identifying vehicles and traffic markings, it should be able to process interactions with them easier.

[-] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 71 points 2 months ago

As I understand it, the point of those captchas was never really "bots can't identify these things" (though you're right on that it was used to train). They use cursor movement, clicks, and other behaviours while you're solving it to detect if you are a bot or not.

[-] Grimy@lemmy.world 43 points 2 months ago

The image choosing was always just to train their own bots

[-] Takumidesh@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's a combination.

Most captchas goals generally aren't 100% prevention, it's to put a workload in front, this makes spamming the site cost money, a bankrolled attempt could just as easily outsource the captchas to real humans.

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[-] Mushroomm@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago

Since I started getting good at yosu and that fishing mini game in farmrpg I've been failing more captchas. I wonder if they're related knowing this

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[-] grue@lemmy.world 32 points 2 months ago

The annoying thing is that they held us hostage for our free labor, but the results are proprietary for Google's benefit only.

That training data ought to be forced to be made freely available to the public, since we're the ones who actually created it.

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[-] communism@lemmy.ml 77 points 2 months ago

And yet I can't beat the CAPTCHAs because reCAPTCHA doesn't like VPNs lol

[-] Draconic_NEO@lemmy.world 26 points 2 months ago

Captcha these days isn't even really a CAPTCHA in the traditional sense since most of the work it does is based on filtering of IP and browser fingerprinting, with a certain level of gamification because the goal is not just to keep out the people they fight against, but to waste their time, would work great if it didn't waste normal people's time, while real bad actors have easy ways to get around it.

[-] unconsciousvoidling@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 months ago

I was going to say I’ve straight up just left whatever website I was trying to access because I was stuck in some endless loop of clicking on street crossings, buses, bikes, and street lights.

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[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 55 points 2 months ago

So can we stop using those damn things? They're super annoying!

[-] ohellidk@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 months ago

I'm kind of hoping the AI permanently beats them. I hate them too.

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[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 43 points 2 months ago

Aren't these Captchas designed to get training data for AI models anyway?

"System does what it was designed to do" doesn't feel that surprising...

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[-] pixxelkick@lemmy.world 42 points 2 months ago

Well yeah, I'd hope so, that's the entire point.

Catcha's data collection always was with the intent for training ai on these skills. That's "the point" of them.

It's reasonable to expect that the older version of captchas can now be beaten by modern ai, because they're often literally trained on that exact data to beat it.

Captcha effectively is free to use on websites as a tool because the data collection is the "payment", they then license that data out to people like OpenAI to train with for stuff like image recognition.

It's why ai is progressing so fast, captchas are one of humanity's long term collected data silos that are very full now.

We are going to have to keep progressing the complexity of catches as it will be the only way to catch modern AIs, and in turn it will collect more data to improve it.

[-] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

Yeah, my understanding is that these capchas were made to harvest data to use for AI/Autopilot driven cars. That's why they are always having you identify motorcycles, bycicles, crosswalks, stoplights, busses, etc. It's all stuff that automatic driving cars have had a hard time identifying.

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[-] PenisDuckCuck9001@lemmynsfw.com 39 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I fucking hate these. I've seen old people that don't know any better get stuck on these for at least 30 minutes.

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago

it's super ableist. if someone has poor vision or colorblindness chances are they're going to miss things.

[-] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago

I have regular everything and I still fuck them up. "click the ones with a fire hydrant". But a tiny piece of fire hydrant is spilling into another box. Does it count? Does it not count? Good luck!!

I had one the other day that was deep fried jpegs to the max. Like, what the fuck am I supposed to do.

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[-] sirico@feddit.uk 35 points 2 months ago

When it's asking for motorcycles but it's clearly a scooter

[-] ripcord@lemmy.world 26 points 2 months ago

Or, like, "there's the bottom 10% of a traffic light in this one. Do I click that box? Ia that supposed to count?"

[-] toddestan@lemm.ee 8 points 2 months ago

What they are doing is comparing your answer and seeing if it is consistent with how it has been answered previously. They realize that not everyone is going to give the exact same answer, so as long as you answer it in a way that enough other people have answered it, it should let you in.

I'll usually go with the minimum number of clicks that I think will get me through, since I'm lazy and it'll also at times slow down how fast you can click which is annoying.

I'll also answer them wrong if I think it's a mistake that enough other people will make. "Yes... that RV over there is a bus..."

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[-] jayandp@sh.itjust.works 18 points 2 months ago

That tip of a handle bar that makes you wonder if that square counts or not.

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[-] dumbass@leminal.space 13 points 2 months ago

I had one with one of those Motorcycles with the long handles, apparently they aren't part of the bike, but the dudes foot holding it up is.

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[-] tarius@lemmy.ml 29 points 2 months ago

Buster is awesome to get past recaptcha. I use it with my own Speech to Text API key since its free from Google. Using Google to beat Google.

https://github.com/dessant/buster

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[-] superkret@feddit.org 27 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Wait, so if a visitor fails the v3 Captcha, v2 is used as a fallback?
That makes absolutely no sense.

[-] cygnus@lemmy.ca 27 points 2 months ago

V3 isn't necessarily more effective than V2, it's just less obtrusive.

[-] schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business 21 points 2 months ago

Not quite: it'll drop a v2 captcha for you to solve when a v3 one can't clearly classify you one way or another.

So if v3 isn't entirely sure you're human, it'll make you do a v2.

[-] NateNate60@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

And if you fail the V2, it'll just take your word on it and let you pass anyway.

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[-] JoMomma@lemm.ee 24 points 2 months ago

But, I cannot pass those 50% of the time... what does that mean?

[-] hOrni@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago
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[-] cheddar@programming.dev 18 points 2 months ago

My score is lower.

[-] GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world 18 points 2 months ago

I can see a future where the Internet is completely run by bots and AI to the point where no human actually uses the Internet anymore.

It's like an island that gets overrun with rats - there are just too many to deal with so you leave.

[-] lando55@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

Some believe this happened years ago. Check out Dead Internet Theory.

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[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 months ago

Cool, so can Google shut it down now?

[-] rainman@lemmy.myserv.one 16 points 2 months ago

I fail more of those checks then these AI bots do. Surreal.

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[-] Draconic_NEO@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

CAPTCHA doesn't stop bots, and let us be honest, it never really did. It frustrated the hell out of people though, and caused people to waste time doing these challenges. Meanwhile even before AI bad actors and bots could get past it simply by using captcha solver services run by exploited humans solving captchas for the service.

It's a display of security theater meant to make normies feel safe but in reality doesn't stop most bad actors.

[-] madjo@feddit.nl 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Meanwhile I sometimes fail those. I have been locked out of applications because I missed a square of a bus, or perhaps because I like to be efficient in my mouse cursor movements. I ducking hate CAPTCHAs.

[-] TommySoda@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

I mean, we literally train them by completing the CAPTCHAs. Why do you think you were picking things like bikes, traffic lights, cars, and busses? The only question now is what's next...

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[-] blattrules@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

I never get the first one and rarely the second one. If it says to click all the squares with motorcycles and it’s just the one big picture, am I supposed to click stuff like the tire and mirrors? I always do and never get it right. Then most of the time they ask me to identify motorcycles, they show me motor scooters and what am I supposed to do then? I think I just need to get one of these bots to do it for me.

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[-] Teknikal@eviltoast.org 12 points 2 months ago

I just close the page usually if I see one of these ones, I don't have the patience to click all the boxes and then it just sends you a different one.

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[-] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 months ago

the new ones suck so fucking much though

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[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Technically the "correct" answer is set by the highest percentage of people choosing it. EG: 19 people select Box A and 1 selects Box B, then the machine decides Box A is in fact correct.

That means these AI could be selecting the wrong answers for all anybody knows, if enough of them are answering the prompts, and still passing.

[-] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Thank God this means i can stop wondering if i should click on the... the 13 pixels from the fucking bike in that one corner square or wondering if i should count the scooter as a motorcycle fuck i am so tired of that shit

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this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2024
788 points (98.4% liked)

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