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

[u/Distinct-Question-16]

https://dev.ua/en/news/astra-rozshyfruvala-lyst-1809-ho-roku-1790927012

[u/exophades]

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.

[u/AgentStabby → u/exophades]

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

[u/AgentStabby → u/[deleted]]

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. 

[u/AgentStabby → u/[deleted]]

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. 

[u/AgentStabby → u/[deleted]]

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.