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GPT-6 Astra Solves a WWI German Radio Cipher

400 points · 180 comments · nsoonhui

  1. Legend2440 · · focus · HN ↗
    TL;DR: all keys are known because the list was seized after the war. However, this message was not previously decoded because the German operator mistyped the key, and also used a key from the wrong day.

    This meant that ChatGPT didn't need to brute-force the entire key, just pick the correct one from the list and identify the typo.

    A sufficiently dedicated human analyst could have done this; but they didn't.

    1. msy · · focus · HN ↗
      Isn't this just a brute forcing exercise of a (in today's terms) very small key then?
      1. xeromal · · focus · HN ↗
        It's doing something that wasn't worth the squeeze for a human. Seems like a perfect use case for AI. Sure, I can do X or I can do Y but if it takes me a few weeks but AI can hash it out in hours, it now makes it worth it.
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