--- title: "Watch Mark Zuckerberg Take a CAPTCHA to Prove He’s Not a Robot" description: "Good news, everyone: Mark Zuckerberg is not a robot after all." date: "2022-03-02" modified: "2022-03-02" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/zuckerberg-captcha" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Meta" tags: - "captcha" - "mark zuckerberg" - "the digest" - "turing test" --- # Watch Mark Zuckerberg Take a CAPTCHA to Prove He’s Not a Robot ![Good news, everyone: Mark Zuckerberg is not a robot after all.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Voight-Kampff Vibes Good news, everyone: Mark Zuckerberg is not a robot after all. In an offhanded moment in [a wide-ranging](), two-hour interview, podcaster Lex Fridman had Zuckerberg prove he's not a robot using a CAPTCHA test — which he passed with flying colors, thank you very much. During [the exchange](), Fridman handed the Facebook — now Meta —CEO a paper and asked him to "circle all the traffic lights, please," in an almost-charmingly IRL version of the types of tests we now take on websites all the time to prove we're human. Zuckerberg's answers apparently convinced Fridman, whose affect is perhaps even flatter than the [Metamate-in-Chief](), that he is indeed a member of the *Homo sapiens* species. "That is a very impressive performance," Fridman responded. "Now we can initiate the interview procedure." ## No Bots Allowed CAPTCHAs are so commonplace now that many don't recognize just how fascinating they are. Created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in the year 2000, the acronym stands for [Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart](). That's right: those annoying quizzes we have to do to check out on e-commerce websites are indeed modified versions of Turing tests, which were designed by pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing to [distinguish between humans and machines](). Jokes about Zuckerberg's somewhat robot-like demeanor have led to [some hilarious memes]() over the years, up to and including a Change.org petition with eight whole signatories demanding that the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology administer a Turing test on him](). Those signatories and the petition's creators may be in luck: [Fridman works at MIT as a deep learning researcher]() so, technically, MIT has now actually administered a Turing test on Zuckerberg. **More Zuckerberg weirdness:** *[Mark Zuckerberg Reportedly Had Red Eyes And a Weird Excuse At Company-Wide Meeting]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()