Google's new reCAPTCHA automatically tells you're not a bot

Over the years, Google has utilised a number of methods to distinguish between human and bots on the web. Its take on the CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) test, known as reCAPTCHA, has required you to transcribe distorted words, confirm Street View addresses or simply just tick a box. Soon, you won't need to do the hard work, because Google's making the system invisible.

Using a combination of machine learning and advanced risk analysis, Google has updated its system to detect user habits without dedicated interaction. When you arrive on a web page, the controls should disappear and serve the relevant content. However, if you do trip Google's risk analysis algorithms, you may need to quickly solve one of the search giant's puzzles.

While the new system is invisible, it will still consider variables like your IP address and the movements of your mouse. Google says its technology will "actively consider a user's engagement with the CAPTCHA — before, during, and after — to determine whether that user is a human." That means no more transcription, which offered a human balance to Google's optical character recognition, but you may now find what you were looking for a lot quicker.