Developer Carter Leffen used OpenAI's Astra model to locate and decrypt an Enigma-encoded message that had remained unsolved since 2005, with the model conducting its own archival research and building a simulator of the Enigma machine. Cryptology researcher Frode Weirerud, who maintains a database of unbroken Enigma messages, independently verified the solution and called it 'awe' inspiring. Anthropic's Opus model reportedly cracked a separate long-unsolved message as well.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-25
Researcher Carter Leffer submitted a decryption of the German Army Enigma message MVUEH, sent 10 July 1941 and logged by an SS-Totenkopf radio unit, which had remained unbroken since 2005. The AI-assisted break, using OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra, revealed a completely different key setup—including a different wheel order—than other messages from that day, yet produced plaintext nearly identical to a previously solved message, Nr. 173 (SIPVX). Analysis of the newly recovered key also uncovered transcription errors in the original ciphertext and pinpointed the exact letter at which the Enigma machine's left wheel turned over.
cryptocellar.org
· 2026-09-22
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