Physix Frontier badgePhysix Frontier
PublishChinese | EN

Physix Frontier · News Briefing Card (IT Home · Sep 17, 2026)

Dev Cracks 1941 Enigma Code Using GPT-6 Astra

KEY FACTS

  • Bloomberg developers used GPT-6 Astra to decrypt an unsolved 1941 German Enigma cipher.
  • The 82-character message contained a soldier's request for marching routes and radio replies.
  • The AI completed the decryption in approximately 10 hours by retrieving archives, building simulators, and testing keys in parallel.
  • Success relied on the known location Rosenow and the Enigma machine's property that no letter encrypts to itself.
  • The project has released code and data for verification, but results still require independent review by domain experts.

KEY DATA

~10 hoursProcessing Time
82 charactersCipher Length

PHYSIX OBSERVATION

This marks a critical pivot where AI transitions from an auxiliary tool to autonomously solving complex logical problems. While dependent on human-defined goals and known clues, the engineering capability demonstrated by large models in long-cycle, multi-step cryptanalysis is striking. The industry must remain vigilant against misuse of such technology while acknowledging the value of its open-source verification mechanisms in promoting academic transparency.

Source: IT Home report