Google has figured out something "better". Basically they use all the data they collect on you to determine whether you're likely to be a bot or not. If not, you most likely won't even see a captcha. (And if so, you'll get a difficult one.)

It must think I'm a bot, then. I get captchas all the time, and they've been definitely getting harder and harder to solve over time. I suspect their algorithm pushes me further and further into the bot camp the more captchas I fail (I have about a 10-20% success rate now, and it's dropping). At this point, I only stick around for the 5-6 tries it takes if I REALLY want to use whatever service it's guarding. Often, I'll just leave the moment a captcha appears because I don't want to be bothered. If it's a contact form, I'll use google to find a direct email address or phone number instead (Yes, I've had to resort to that approach many times).

Hmm ya, I could certainly see a positive feedback loop developing. Out of curiosity, do you regularly log into a google account and/or use services like gmail? I'm guessing not, since presumably that would give it plenty of data. (Unless you actually are a spammer... ;) ) Also, are you connecting from a location that Google might see as more likely to produce spam? (I would guess any non-"western" country to some extent, with Nigeria likely being at the far end of the scale.)

I have gmail open most of the time, but it rarely asks me to log in. It's only when I try to use other services that use recaptcha, or the rare occasions where I have to relog into google and mistype my password more than once. Last time that happened it locked me out of my account for 24 hours because I couldn't solve the captcha (although I could still access gmail on my phone).

Are you suggesting somehow automating the process of proving you are a human?

No. Just trying to avoid something that is completely stupid on many levels.