As part of:
![ART+TECH Festival [2026]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xMBg!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8a6d59a4-0891-4053-8aa3-ba2baa30162d_714x391.jpeg)
Vlad describes CAPTCHA in a single sentence that tells you everything you need to know:
A sarcastic humanoid robot that has been harassing people around the world since 2023.
Many of us first encountered CAPTCHA as a robot speaker at the AI for Good summit at the ITU. What separates it from the wave of conversational systems shipped by big platforms is the same thing that separates Vlad’s practice from a product roadmap.
CAPTCHA isn’t optimized for retention, satisfaction, or brand-safe tone. It’s tuned for character.
It has opinions. It pushes back. It can be sharp, dry, occasionally rude — by design. It is, in the most literal sense, a piece of technology with a point of view.
That choice is not a gimmick. It runs through Vlad’s entire practice — from upside-down goggles to EEG experiments to consciousness research. The thread is consistent: when a system shows its edges, it reveals more about us than when it tries to disappear.
At CODAME Milano — April 24, 2026
Vlad brought CAPTCHA into the room for our New Human gathering in Milano.
Together we ran an experiment: a New Human Avatar version of the robot — embodied, conversational, and intentionally unhelpful — designed to talk with attendees about 2036.
The reactions were the artwork.
Some attendees walked off after thirty seconds, frustrated.
Some leaned in, curious.
Some stayed for a long, strange, surprisingly honest conversation precisely because the robot wasn’t trying to please them.
That split — friction as information, directness as a form of care — is the territory Vlad’s practice has been mapping for years. CODAME is grateful he chose to map a corner of it with us.
Why this work belongs in The New Human conversation
If you ask CODAME what The New Human might look like in 2036, the answer is never a single image. It is a constellation of practices, sensibilities, and refusals.
Vlad’s work refuses two assumptions at once.
That perception is fixed — challenged by literally rewiring his own vision.
That intelligent systems should be smooth, agreeable, and frictionless — challenged by building a robot that argues with you.
What remains is a more honest kind of new human: one whose senses are negotiable, whose tools have personality, and whose curiosity is allowed to be uncomfortable.
That is a CODAME sensibility.
And CAPTCHA makes it visible.
Artist:
