What’s this I hear about a breakthrough in artificial intelligence?
A software company called Vicarious claims to have created a computer algorithm that can solve CAPTCHA with greater than 90% accuracy.
What is CAPTCHA and why should I care?
You’ve already encountered CAPTCHAs if you’ve ever created an e-mail account with Google, set up a PayPal account, or commented on some WordPress blogs. CAPTCHAs are those wavy, distorted letters that you have to type into a box. The purpose is to prove that you are human rather than a computer-controlled “bot” making mischief on the Internet.
You should care for at least two reasons. First, CAPTCHA is the security system used across the entire Internet to help prevent unlawful use of websites. So if that has been broken, the entire Internet should probably start transitioning to a new security system.
But more exciting, this might be a major breakthrough in computer science. Creating machines that can see the world and make sense of images as humans do is one of the “hard problems” in artificial intelligence. Breaking CAPTCHA is a milestone on that road—if Vicarious has pulled it off.
To read more and view the video, click here.