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GPT-6 Astra Cracks 108-Year-Old WWI German Cipher, Reveals British Warship Movements
M
Moneycontrol•21-09-2026, 08:51
GPT-6 Astra Cracks 108-Year-Old WWI German Cipher, Reveals British Warship Movements
- •OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra AI model reportedly deciphered a 1918 German military radio message, previously unsolved for over a century.
- •The message, dated November 27, 1918, detailed the arrival of an English cruiser at Sevastopol and an Allied squadron's subsequent arrival.
- •The AI's decryption aligns with historical records, specifically the log of HMS Canterbury, which confirms its arrival in Sevastopol on November 24, 1918, and an Allied squadron on November 26.
- •GPT-6 Astra used the German keyword "TRUPPENVERSCHIEBUNG" (troop movement), a key previously thought to be in use later than the message's date.
- •This breakthrough suggests that some historical ciphers remained unsolved because researchers didn't expect certain keys to apply to earlier dates.
Key Questions Answered
GPT-6 Astra decoded a 108-year-old German military radio message from November 27, 1918, which reported the arrival of an English cruiser at Sevastopol and an approaching Allied squadron.
The AI model applied the German keyword "TRUPPENVERSCHIEBUNG"—meaning troop movement—on an unexpected date outside the period historians previously believed it was used to solve the ADFGVX cipher.
The decrypted plaintext closely matches the surviving log of the British light cruiser HMS Canterbury, which recorded entering Sevastopol harbour on November 24 and an Allied squadron arriving on November 26.
