Non-expert enthusiasts, including a product development coach named Carter Leffen, are using large language models such as GPT-6 Astra to decode historical encrypted messages, including a German army Enigma cipher that had remained unsolved for 85 years. The AI systems deploy decryption algorithms and search online for supporting historical records, allowing users without cryptography training to attempt and sometimes succeed at codebreaking tasks.
nature.com
· 2026-10-16
A hobbyist shared a Show HN post featuring a working 3D model of the WWII-era Enigma encryption machine, demonstrating how a message is typed, encrypted letter by letter, and transmitted via simulated Morse code over radio. The project visualizes how the encrypted signal could be openly broadcast yet remain unreadable without the correct machine settings.
enigma.design
· 2026-09-29
Crypto Cellar Research reports that GPT-Astra cracked the previously unbroken 82-letter German Army Enigma transmission known as MVUEH, sent to the SS-Totenkopf Division on July 10, 1941. The message, publicly available since 2005 but never decoded, was solved autonomously by Astra, which wrote its own Python and C++ Enigma simulation and Bombe tools and correctly guessed a probable plaintext clue referencing the town Rosenow.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-26
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
Developer Prinz used an AI system called GPT-6 Astra to break a 108-year-old encrypted German WWI radio message, one of 50 unsolved ciphers listed on the German site Scienceblogs.de. The AI identified 'TRUPPENVERSCHIEBUNG' as the keyword for the ADFGVX cipher, revealing a warning about a British cruiser arriving at Sevastopol followed by an Allied squadron. Astra cross-checked the decoded date against historical naval logs, confirming HMS Canterbury's arrival in Sevastopol on November 24, 1918, closely matching the message's timeline.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-19
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