# How good are the “Prove that you’re a human” tests? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2023, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730 "2023-10-18T01:28:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/21 "2023-10-19T22:10:51Z")
For all that everyone complains about captchas being hard to solve, I don’t think I’ve ever failed one. Sure, sometimes it’s ambiguous whether a given box contains part of a bicycle, but those things are designed with the expectation that some of the boxes will be ambiguous: In any where it’s ambiguous, you’ll pass by either clicking it or not. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/22 "2023-10-19T22:23:25Z")
Maybe you can tell me what this one is: [IMG\_2341.JPG - Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TQB8tg7KGYHyE4kvxIjU-CRTSas7waH5/view?usp=drivesdk) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/23 "2023-10-19T22:37:40Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Robots soundly beat humans in bot-spotting captcha tests | PCWorld So the way to prove you are human is by completing the captcha wrongly? Makes sense, I am very human. > [@Schnitte](#): > > My understanding is that nowadays, captchas aren’t used primarily to weed out bots - they’re used to _train_ bots: When a captcha asks you to click on images containing a particular item, you’re providing (for free!) data that can be used by the site owner to train an algorithm to identify these items from an image. I read that too, but it is illogical. They know already what the answer is, otherwise they could not tell you that you have not passed the test. If they know the answer already there is no information gain in your input to train the bots. Nice story, but I don’t buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/24 "2023-10-19T22:44:40Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I read that too, but it is illogical. They know already what the answer is, otherwise they could not tell you that you have not passed the test. One of the older styles presented two distorted words: one of them was already known and could be used to verify the answer, and the other was unknown (or less reliably known) and could be used to label their dataset. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/25 "2023-10-19T22:46:19Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Maybe you can tell me what this one is: [IMG\_2341.JPG - Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TQB8tg7KGYHyE4kvxIjU-CRTSas7waH5/view?usp=drivesdk) V4X4 > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I read that too, but it is illogical. They know already what the answer is, otherwise they could not tell you that you have not passed the test. If they know the answer already there is no information gain in your input to train the bots. Nice story, but I don’t buy it. The training ones always have multiple pieces to them. The site already knows some of them (from other humans having already solved them) and is unsure about some others. It uses the ones it does already know to decide whether to let you in, and uses your answers to the ones it’s not sure about to add to its library of ones it knows. And of course, the user doesn’t know which ones it’s sure about in advance. It takes a bit to get it started, but then it becomes self-sustaining. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/26 "2023-10-20T12:36:58Z")
Years ago, I heard a lecture by Louis Von Ahn (founder of reCAPTHA) where he said they did exactly that. Basically, they observed that CAPTCHA was being defeated by scammers who hired huge numbers of people in Southeast Asia as Mechanical Turks. They decided to exploit the exploiters by extracting work out of them to train AI. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/27 "2023-10-20T12:38:58Z")
Hopefully we’re far enough into this FQ to share this: [How to prove you’re not a robot](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LButXcZ57pc) ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/28 "2023-10-20T12:54:53Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > > [@md-2000](#): > > > > but then, I don’t have a dog to leave surprises on the floor for the vacuum. > > Is a vacuum even equipped to handle a steaming heap? LOL There were several posts back in the day of a Roomba thoughfully smearing that surprise - no longer steaming - over the entire room of hardwood and carpet. I assume a fresh one would not trigger the collision bumper on the vacuum. I hope our computer overlords have learned to recognize a pile of shit when they see it now… ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/29 "2023-10-20T13:07:09Z")
Eventually we are going to have to answer a bunch of questions about tortoises and husbands hanging nudie magazine photos on the wall to access a web site. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/30 "2023-10-20T13:22:37Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I hope our computer overlords have learned to recognize a pile of shit when they see it now… Oh, Lord, my ribs hurt! 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/31 "2023-10-20T14:19:32Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I hope our computer overlords have learned to recognize a pile of shit when they see it now… Only way to find out is to stand Elon in front of one of his self-driving cars ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/32 "2023-10-20T14:54:59Z")
And what, pray tell, would count as passing the test? The self-driving car braking or running him over? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730/33 "2023-10-20T15:09:59Z")
Some move out of the way and others embrace it as colleague. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-are-the-prove-that-you-re-a-human-tests/991730.md?page=1)