Prove you're human by identifying gibberish words, because computers suck at that

By Justin Pot Published May 2, 2016

Think CAPTCHAs are annoying? Imagine how bad they are for the blind.

Try as designers might, there hasn’t ever been a really solid solution for the visually impaired to prove that they’re human. Such CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) are either too difficult to solve, or too easy for bots to figure out. But researchers at Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum might have a solution. A number of words are read out loud by a computer, alongside some gibberish; users need to identify the gibberish. It sounds simple, but bots struggle with it, Phys.org is reporting.

Recommended Videos

This is a great deal easier for users than the current methods, which require transcribing words that the computer reads aloud.

This new CAPTCHA method isn’t just easier for humans, however: It’s also harder for bots. Computers are pretty good at recognizing words at this point, and in some cases are actually better at it than humans. But machines struggle to identify gibberish. Go ahead: say a bunch of nonsense words to Siri or Cortana, and watch as these systems guess and identify that nonsense as a series of words you didn’t intend.

With this in mind, it’s easy to imagine this new CAPTCHA being hard for machines to figure out but superficial for humans. Research shows a human success rate of 60 percent, and a 14 percent machine success rate. Previous audio CAPTCHA systems see a 63 percent machine crack rate, making this an improvement.

The complete research, “Towards Improved Audio CAPTCHAs Based on Auditory Perception and Language Understanding,” will be published in ACM Transactions on Information and System Security later this year.

Of course, bots built specifically for this task may eventually come along and get better at solving this specific task. They keep building better bots, which means the web needs better CAPTCHAs. The cat-and-mouse game is becoming less and less relevant, however, as more sites require users to sign in using Facebook, Google, or other credentials instead of using CAPTCHA. Still, for those cases when you’d rather not sign in, it’s good to see new, easier methods of verifying one’s humanity.

Former Contributor

Justin's always had a passion for trying out new software, asking questions, and explaining things – tech journalism is the…

Topics

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content -- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.