Google testing hand gesture reCAPTCHA to replace 'traffic‑light, crosswalk clicks'

The days of clicking on traffic lights, bicycles and crosswalks to prove you're not a robot could soon be numbered. Google is testing a new version of its reCAPTCHA security system that asks users to turn on their camera and perform a simple hand gesture to verify they are human. The feature, called 'Hand Gesture Verification', is part of Google's Cloud reCAPTCHA service and is designed to combat increasingly sophisticated bots powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Instead of relying solely on image-based challenges, the system uses a person's hand movements to confirm that a real human is interacting with a website. Google recently published documentation explaining how the experimental feature works, the data it collects and the privacy protections built into the system. Why is Google changing reCAPTCHA?