The Curious Case of the Bizarre, Disappearing Captcha

While puzzling captchas--from dogs in hats to sliding jockstraps--still exist, most bot-deterring challenges have vanished into the background. As I browse the web in 2025, I rarely encounter captchas anymore. There's no slanted text to discern. No image grid of stoplights to identify. And on the rare occasion that I am asked to complete some bot-deterring task, the experience almost always feels surreal.