MA DESIGN






EXPANDED PRACTICE    

Acts of Verification 
                        
Qiantong Yang
@acts_of_verification


Acts of Verification is a critical design project that uses CAPTCHA as its main structure to explore how our idea of “being human” is being reshaped by algorithms in the digital age. CAPTCHA was first created to block bots and confirm that a user was human. But as it evolved from distorted text to image selection, behaviour tracking, and invisible background checks, its role also changed. Humans are no longer simply being tested; we are being trained by the system and pushed to behave in ways that match its expectations.

In this project, I take GPT’ s judgments of owl images as a kind of technical authority and insert them directly into the verification system without correcting any mistakes. This turns the system into a fixed, unquestioned standard that players must learn to follow. Through a three-round structure, time pressure, and error tracking, the work shows a one-way learning process in which humans quickly adjust their behaviour to fit the logic of AI, rather than teaching the system to understand human perception.

The project raises a broader question: as algorithmic control becomes more hidden and automated, are we gradually losing the power to decide what is real, what is true, and what it means to be human?