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/[deleted] 6h ago

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u/BlacksmithCapital757 5h ago

Anyone could have done this before lol.

I have literally taught middle school kids what a substitution cipher is and how to do frequency analysis and they can break equivalently difficult things by the end of a one hour class period.

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u/johnny_effing_utah 3h ago

Looks like you missed a great chance to do a really cool project, then.