Comment by version_five
3 years ago
I'm pretty sure Google's AI has already reached the information theoretic limits for recognizing fire hydrants etc. so you're not really training it anymore
What bothers me about recaptcha (other than the obvious first order task) is that I believe it's used to penalize people who don't let google track them, and by extension to make other browsers look worse. It's an abuse of their market power.
I am not sure that's the "intent" but it sure is a suspiciously advantageous (for them) side effect.
Like how I gave up using protonmail because my emails kept getting classified as spam by anyone using gmail or gmail-backed organizational email.
I'm on the opposite spectrum: I think the intent to collect data is at least above 50%, meaning that gathering information on individuals visiting third-party platforms has taken precedence over training their model.
Also, I think we shouldn't underestimate the monetization value of being able to target "HN users" for advertising. From the moment we are flagged, Google can exploit this data pointer for targeted advertisment on any other website/app.
This information should be given at the highest cost possible:)