It's likely not a problem *yet*

Thanks for flagging! I know Brave has several privacy layers. Will look into it.

Thanks! Have to channel my existential panic into something!

Surveys are going to need new ways to establish human presence as AI gets faster and harder to detect. Pulse is one step in that direction.

Special thanks to @seanwestwood1.bsky.social who flagged several spoofing paths. This is exactly the kind of scrutiny we’ll need as we adapt to this new era.

This doesn’t solve the “verify-then-handoff” problem. But it does filter out the most aggressive headless-browser attacks and gives us a first layer of defense in an era where attention checks and gotcha questions fail.

Demo and QSF download here: columbiauniversity.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

I'm currently working on Pulse, a “proof-of-life” approach compatible with Qualtrics that uses a simple finger-on-lens verification task to confirm human presence. This approach avoids privacy concerns tied to capturing faces or living environments, and it works on laptops and smartphones.

I used to believe that survey aesthetics have minimal effects on completion rates and attentiveness… until I saw that slime-green color scheme

Agreed. Adding links has been my workaround, but that might assume an unrealistically high level of reviewer motivation.

I played around with Gemma 3 27B for a few hours the other day and was impressed. There are lower quants that should run on your machine. Not sure how it performs with long context.

For those interested in deploying their own CSAS, you can visit tailoredexperiments.com

The code is open source.

The paper is open access: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

By bridging the gap between researchers and participants, CSAS could ultimately lead to a better understanding of public opinion.