Google finds a new way to check you are human after bots outnumber people on the internet

Published 22 June 2026 · india

Google is gradually rolling out a new reCAPTCHA system wherein it has started asking people to prove they are human by making hand gestures through

Google is gradually rolling out a new reCAPTCHA system wherein it has started asking people to prove they are human by making hand gestures through their camera. The new system is intended to crack down on bots which are growing by leaps and bounds thanks to the surge in use of AI agents. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince in fact said recently that there are now more bots on the internet than humans. Read Full Story To cut down on bots spoofing its guardrails, Google is introducing a new mechanism that asks users to make simple hand gestures by turning on their device camera. How the new reCAPTCHA system actually works When the new system starts, your browser asks you permission to access your camera. And then, it records a short video of your hand movement and sends it to Google for analysis.

According to Google, the system extracts 21 hand-landmark coordinates, essentially measurements of your hand-joint positions, to recognise specific gestures and confirm you are a real person. Google claims the videos are never linked to a user’s identity, that audio will never be recorded, and that the footage is deleted as soon as the verification process is complete. Notably, the company adds that the feature is optional, which means it will not replace existing image and audio challenges. Those will still be available for users who cannot or do not want to use the gesture-based system, including those with accessibility needs. The reason behind Google's exploration of this new reCAPTCHA arena is straightforward. AI-powered bots apparently have become increasingly good at cracking traditional CAPTCHAs. What once required human eyes to identify a school bus or a crosswalk can now be done by automated tools in seconds.

By requiring real hand movements, Google hopes to raise the bar for bots trying to create fake accounts or carry out other forms of online fraud. Not everyone is convinced The announcement has not gone down well with everyone, particularly those who are cautious about privacy online. On X, a user going by the handle @Pirat_Nation summed up the concern bluntly, writing that while Google claims it deletes the video after the check, his advice was simply, "don't believe them." Another X user, @MEGAprivacy, was equally sceptical, pointing out the irony of trusting Google with camera access. "This is also the company whose entire business model runs on knowing everything about you," they wrote, adding a pointed "for now" when referring to Google's assurance that traditional CAPTCHA methods are still available. Some users have also questioned whether the new system will even hold up.