reCAPTCHA anything lately? It’s that box with an image above that you translate when submitting an online form. Many organizations employ the free service on their website to prevent spam and abuse. But you are actually doing more than just verifying that you are not a malicious bot.

You are (likely unknowingly) part of a human effort to collectively create powerful artificial intelligence that is used to improve our lives today and well into the future.

reCAPTCHA is powered by an advanced engine that analyzes risk and works to prevent automated, and often malicious, software from performing abusive activities on a website. The system was first developed on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Pittsburgh. Google acquired the technology in 2009.

It is now among the most widely used applications of its kind. One hundred million reCAPTCHAs are reported solved every day. Google’s advanced applications of the technology mean it does more than just separate man from machine.

Every time you complete a reCAPTCHA, you are helping to digitize the world. Behind the scenes, Google is using the data to digitize text, annotate images and build data sets. It’s called crowd-sourcing.

Here are three things you are helping accomplish when you submit a reCAPTCHA:

• Improving maps. Those pictures of street signs and house numbers are actually satellite images taken by Google. Each connects to a physical location on a map. When you type in 20874, the information is funneled to Google Earth. Then, if enough people type in the same information, the system verifies it as accurate and updates the electronic mapping record. The result is more precise Google maps.
• Digitizing books. Remember the conversation years ago about the challenge of translating the world’s books into digital format? It is happening and you’re likely helping. The close up images of pages of books are actual books that are being digitized. reCAPTCHA turns the digital image scans of old book pages and newspapers into text – word by word. The content of the books are being chronicled and saved online for people to find and read. This is how reCAPTCHA got its start. By 2012, the tool digitized 30 years of the New York Times and likely wrapped up the remaining archive in the past year.
• Solving problems. While the information collected helps stop bots, it also helps train other machines. Research communities receive the datasets and use them to build the next generation of artificial intelligence. This is where the possibilities are only beginning.

It’s incredible what technology can do with a few letters here, there and everywhere. Securing websites is just the beginning. The value organizations can receive from technology is becoming exponential.