# Are we human? Or are we reCAPTCHA? Original: https://swyx.io/are-we-human-or-are-we-recaptcha-blm Published: 2017-12-02 > title: Are we human? Or are we reCAPTCHA? --- title: Are we human? Or are we reCAPTCHA? published: true tags: til, recaptcha, machine learning --- # "The 2 squiggly word captcha that you know and hate will die by 3/31/2018." The Web is dark and full of bots, and there is one undisputed leader in defending against them. You probably use reCAPTCHA every day but you don't even know it! [Aaron Malenfant](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronmalenfant/) is the lead software engineer for [reCAPTCHA](https://www.google.com/recaptcha) and he explained its past, present, and future at GDG DevFest NYC. reCAPTCHA is secretive by its very nature, so it is a rare look into how this essential piece of web technology works. # Part 1: High level details ## What I Learned You can sign up for reCAPTCHA at and learn more with the CodeLab [here](http://g.co/recaptcha/codelab). ### Volume ReCAPTCHA - 2 million weekly active sites - 1 billion CAPTCHA solutions a week - Nocaptcha saves millions of hours a day ### Difficulty levels The reCAPTCHA Machine learning engine categorizes incoming requests on a spectrum of difficulty levels from "just a checkbox" to "select all images with cars" (image classification) to "select all squares with vehicles" (image localization) to "ok you're definitely a bot". ### Integrating into -your- site Head to and answer a few simple questions! You will have a few options: - Visible: Script tag and a div - Invisible: script tag and a button with a callback - Invisible: script tag with a div to have control when you execute Yes, there is such a thing as Invisible reCAPTCHA! more below. Also look up more docs at the [DevGuide](http://g.co/recaptcha/devguide). Don't forget to integrate with serverside - make HTTP POST to with POST params of `secret` and `response` you get from reCAPTCHA # Part 2: Past, present and future ### RIP 2 word Captcha (reCAPTCHA v1) **The 2 word captcha that you know and hate will die by 3/31/2018.** ([Source](https://www.programmableweb.com/news/google-recaptcha-v1-api-shutting-down-march-2018/brief/2017/10/24) and on the [FAQ](https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/docs/faq#what-happens-to-recaptcha-v1)) AI has advanced to the point that [it can solve the hardest CAPTCHAs at 99.8% accuracy, but humans can only solve them 33% of the time](http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-algorithm-busts-captcha-with-99-8-percent-accuracy/). So it is time to put it to bed. ### [reCAPTCHA v2](https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/docs/display) the "i am a human" checkbox you've clicked dozens of times - this is actually called the "[NoCAPTCHA](https://www.theverge.com/2014/12/3/7325925/google-is-killing-captcha-as-we-know-it)" - for more details, see implementation options in Part 1 above. ### [Invisible reCAPTCHA](https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/docs/invisible) - launched on 3/8/2017 For low risk traffic, no user interaction is required at all to detect if you are a bot! ### reCAPTCHA Android API Included as part of [Google Play Services SafetyNet](https://developer.android.com/training/safetynet/recaptcha.html) - again, no user interaction required to verify you are human. ### Future of reCAPTCHA (v3) v3 is in Closed Beta now: - puts you in control of when we show a challenge - integration siilar to V2 Invisible - In admin console, get a view into the riskiness of your traffic Signup for reCAPTCHA v3 beta announcements at !