AI models crack two long-unsolved Enigma messages
The archive’s unresolved set is smaller, but seven messages remain unbroken.
Two cryptanalysts report that OpenAI’s GPT–6 Astra and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5 have deciphered separate Enigma messages, leaving seven still unsolved. Carter Leffen directed Astra to find and decode a message in an archive; the model researched historical records, built an Enigma simulator and recovered plaintext from a message that had resisted solution since 2005. Frode Weirerud later verified Leffen’s result. In a separate effort, Jack Willis used Claude Opus 5 to solve another message, guiding it with a known signature associated with an officer; he contacted Weirerud about the result on September 21. Weirerud says one further message has known plaintext, but its Enigma code remains unbroken.
Why it matters
The results show that AI-assisted analysis can resolve these particular historical ciphers, while leaving the wider effort unfinished. One remaining message has a known plaintext, but its Enigma code is still unbroken.
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