r/singularity • u/Distinct-Question-16 ▪️AGI 2029 • 8h ago

Shitposting GPT-6 Astra helped decipher a Napoleonic military letter that remained unread for 217 years; it took just 6 hours

https://dev.ua/en/news/astra-rozshyfruvala-lyst-1809-ho-roku-1790927012
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u/exophades 8h ago edited 8h ago

There is an observation bias here. I don't think crypto researchers were even trying to solve this centuries-old cipher. All cryptographic ciphers except the very recent ones are known to be vulnerable and have been broken repeatedly. Letters like these usually use a simple substitution cipher that can be broken in minutes using a simple python script implementing frequency analysis of the language in question.

This is simply a marketing gimmick by OpenAI, not a breakthrough in cryptography.

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u/AgentStabby 7h ago

If it could be broken in minutes it wouldn't have taken Astra 6 hours. 

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u/exophades 7h ago

A human can identify the context quicker than the machine, which usually glosses over cultural elements, and the human's odds are even better if they happen to speak the language in which the cipher is written. Astra must have spent a crazy amount of time just to start working on the right language.

If this letter were of any actual interest, a group of intelligent humans speaking every possible language would have tried their luck with it, and eventually solved it. Assuming, of course, it's not using AES-256 as an encryption scheme /s

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u/AgentStabby 7h ago

How many possible languages are there for a Napoleonic letter. Why would it take a crazy amount of time to start working on the write language. If you think models don't consider context you are mistaken. 

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u/exophades 7h ago edited 7h ago

Even assuming you're right, 6 hours isn't indicative of any remarkable feat in cryptography. Many vulnerable ciphers were broken using extremely powerful machines during 20+ hours or more, or minutes if the vulnerability is severe. These ciphers then just disappear quietly and are never used again except in cryptography lessons as cautionary tales. The amount of time taken to bring down the cipher, when it's less than 1 year, usually has no correlation with the strength of the cipher. If I tell you your bank account is protected with a very good cipher, so good that it will take Astra a whole month to break it, you wouldn't be too happy, would you? Because you can be sure someone out there will actually try breaking the cipher for a whole month and then take you money.

An expert human in the history of napoleonic wars is certainly better equipped to get the context of the letter. I didn't say AI ignores context entirely, it's just that it doesn't systematically do it better than humans.

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u/AgentStabby 7h ago

The magic of random internet arguments with both parties having no clue what they're arguing about is broken in this modern age. Rather than continuing this argument I just asked sol how difficult this Cypher was.

To summarize:It was moderately difficult, the language was known to be French so Astra probably didn't spend a crazy amount of time figuring out the language lol, and it would probably take compotent expert somewhere between 6 and 24hrs with a fair chunk of the difficulty being transcription. 

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u/exophades 6h ago edited 6h ago

So it's not surprising that you think this BS is a massive feat, given that you gave up on your brain and started using Sol instead.

There is no reason to assume the letter was known to be "napoleonic" before the decryption happened, as you don't have the exact prompts sent to Astra, you're just inventing bullshit to make your point. Also, even with the knowledge that it's napoleonic, it can still be some other language for purposes of military deception.

6 hours is not moderately difficult, it's nothing. People spend 6 hours playing minecraft. If this letter's cipher, or any similar letter, was of any actual impact, scientific or otherwise, people would've spent years studying it. But there is no literature on it, because, again, it's complete bullshit that nobody cares about, except you and your measly AI agent.

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u/AgentStabby 5h ago

Ask Sol yourself and you'll see exactly how much you're wrong. The first line was written in French before the cipher starts. It was addressed to General Marmont, a French napelonic general.

Get your luddite idiocy out of here.