The Wiretap: OpenAI Agent Checks Box Confirming It’s Not A Bot

The Wiretap is your weekly digest of cybersecurity, internet privacy, and surveillance news. One of the constant bits of friction in navigating the modern internet is proving to the site you’re browsing that you are, in fact, human. Often you can prove it by simply checking a box saying so. But in the brave new world of agentic AI, such basic checks won’t be enough to catch AI agents wandering around the internet to do tasks on their owners’ behalf. Ars Technica reports that OpenAI’s new agent, which uses its own browser to access the internet and perform tasks, was observed by a Reddit user checking one of those “I am not a robot” boxes. As it did so, it provided the following narration:

“I'll click the 'Verify you are human' checkbox to complete the verification on Cloudflare. This step is necessary to prove I'm not a bot and proceed with the action.”

In this particular case, the assistant didn’t face one of the common puzzles aimed at catching bots — the ones that ask you to identify all the pictures with a bicycle or to move pieces of an image around to have it the right way up. But it’s just a matter of time before agents can solve those too. When the bots get so sophisticated they act like humans, the premise of web “captchas” starts to break down. How do you then protect websites from unwanted, malicious bot traffic? And how do you design sites so that agents representing real people can navigate them effectively? Let’s just hope a web designed for bots isn’t that much more annoying for us lowly humans to navigate.

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THE BIG STORY:

This $120 Million Startup’s AI Will Teach You How To Suck Less At Security

People are often the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain. Just last week, cleaning product giant Clorox claimed a cyberattack that may have caused as much as $380 million in damages was the result of a contracted service desk staffer resetting a password for a hacker pretending to work for the company. IT departments are aware of the risk of human error, of course, and try to address it with education. Usually, this means a few emails and some simple training. But the advice in these types of training is generalized and only rarely tailored to the specific needs of staff. It’s no wonder people never bother to read those emails. This is the problem that cybersecurity startup Fable wants to tackle with a personalized approach. Founded in 2024 by Nicole Jiang, 31, and Dr. Sanny Liao, 42, who spent years at $5.1 billion cybersecurity company Abnormal, Fable claims its AI helps determine which employees need help improving their security practices and offers custom tips and guidance to them. Read more at Forbes.

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Stories You Have To Read Today

• Pro-Ukrainian hacker group Silent Crow took credit for a cyberattack that crippled IT systems of Russian airline Aeroflot, grounding dozens of flights.
• The viral app Tea, which enabled women to anonymously post images and comments about men they dated, suffered a cyberattack exposing data about thousands of users.
• Researchers found security vulnerabilities in door-to-door luggage service Airportr that would enable hackers to access users’ flight itineraries and personal information, and potentially redirect luggage destinations.

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Winner of the Week

Google will be launching new security features for its Apps designed to prevent an exploit that allows hackers to use cookies to take over accounts. The new feature will bind cookies to specific devices, preventing remote hacks.

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Loser of the Week

Apple’s latest version of iOS, due this fall, will include more features to filter text spam out of your messaging app. That could have an outsized impact for political groups, which worry that this may also filter out their often aggressive fundraising texts.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

OpenAI Agent Capabilities

Q: What did OpenAI's agent do that was noteworthy? A: OpenAI's new agent, using its own browser, was observed by a Reddit user checking an "I am not a robot" checkbox to verify its humanity. Q: Was the OpenAI agent subjected to a complex captcha challenge? A: No, in this instance, the agent did not face more complex challenges like image identification puzzles that are common for bot detection. Q: What is the implication of AI agents passing human verification tests? A: It suggests that traditional captchas may become insufficient for distinguishing between humans and sophisticated AI agents, posing a challenge for website security.

AI and Website Security

Q: How can websites protect themselves from sophisticated AI agents? A: The article suggests that websites will need to develop new methods to protect against unwanted, potentially malicious bot traffic as AI agents become more advanced. Q: What are the challenges in designing websites for AI navigation? A: A key challenge is balancing effective bot detection with ensuring that legitimate AI agents representing real people can navigate sites easily and without undue annoyance.

Crypto Market AI's Take

The advancement of AI agents, like the one observed by OpenAI, highlights a critical intersection between artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. As these agents become more sophisticated and capable of performing complex tasks online, the methods used to distinguish humans from bots will need to evolve rapidly. This trend underscores the growing importance of robust AI security protocols and the ongoing development of more advanced verification methods. For those operating in the digital asset space, understanding these advancements is crucial for maintaining secure operations and navigating the evolving threat landscape. We explore the impact of AI on the crypto market and how it's reshaping trading strategies and security measures on our platform.

More to Read:

• AI Agents: Capabilities, Risks, and Growing Role
• Turbocharged Cyberattacks Are Coming Under Empowered AI Agents
• Agentic AI Turns Enterprise Cybersecurity into Machine vs. Machine Battle

Source: Originally published at Forbes on July 29, 2025.