Google will ask people to wave at their computer to confirm they are real.
The test is the latest in an ongoing battle between website owners and automated bots that try and access websites.
Many website owners use systems – such as CAPTCHA – to check that visitors to their website are actual human beings. That is intended to separate them from bots who might access a website to try and flood it with traffic as an attack, automatically sign up for online systems, or other attacks.
But, as bots become more sophisticated, it has become more difficult for those systems to sort the automated users from the real ones. Traditional systems such as the old versions of CAPTCHA, which asked users to identify letters and numbers, have become less reliable.
In response, Google and other companies have rolled out a number of updates. Those have included identifying objects or moving shapes around in space, for instance.
Now, Google has revealed the latest frontier in the technology: having people wave at their computer to ensure they are people. The details were revealed on a help page on Google’s website.
The new system looks through a users’ camera and asks them to complete various “actions or gestures”, Google said. As people move around, Google tracks various parts of their hand to check whether they are real – or, for example, an AI-powered video.
Google stressed that users must enable the hand gesture features and give it explicit access to their camera, and that it can be revoked later. The videos are not associated with a particular user and are deleted after they are verified.
“For users with accessibility needs who cannot use hand gestures to complete the challenge, reCAPTCHA continues to provide visual and audio challenges, and develop more accessible and secure alternatives,” Google said.
