AI breaks 83-year-old german military cipher using openai's gpt-6 astra

A developer at Bloomberg LP, Carter Leffen, has successfully decrypted an 82-character Enigma-encrypted radio message sent by a German soldier in 1941 using OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra. The message, labeled 'MVUEH,' had remained undeciphered for 83 years. Leffen claims the AI model's 'Extra High' version spent about 10 hours analyzing historical archives, building an Enigma simulator, and testing various cryptographic methods. The breakthrough came when a previously decrypted message contained the location 'Rosenow,' which Leffen assumed might also appear in the undecoded message. The Enigma machine's weakness—never encrypting a letter as itself—helped narrow down possibilities. The decrypted text included phrases like 'Sofort Funkantwort' and 'Angabe des Marschweges,' with some spelling errors suggesting authenticity. Leffen emphasized that the effort to create a website explaining the process was far greater than the actual decryption. The project now offers downloadable code, data, and a 3D Enigma simulator for verification, though experts caution further independent review is needed.