Bots do far better than humans at Captcha tests

Bots do far better than humans at Captcha tests

San Francisco, 8/10/2023

According to a study from the University of California, Irvine, bots significantly outperform humans on online CAPTCHA tests. Computer science professor Gene Tsudik and his colleagues found that automated bots performed tests for distorted text faster and more accurately, raising doubts about their usefulness as a security measure.

The team checked 200 of the most popular websites and found 120 still using CAPTCHA tests. They recruited 1,000 human participants to conduct 10 on-site tests each. People showed 50 to 85% accuracy and took an average of nine to 15 seconds to complete the tests.

Meanwhile, the bots were able to complete the CAPTCHAs with 85% to 100% accuracy in less than a second. The research paper that has not yet been peer-reviewed has been published on arXiv.

Shujun Li of the University of Kent told New Scientist that „new approaches are needed“ to block bots from accessing websites, such as „more dynamic approaches using behavioral analysis“.