OpenAI's GPT-6 Astraeus Deciphers Nazi Enigma in 10 Hours, Bitcoin Security Unaffected

A 1941 German military Enigma cipher message has finally been decrypted. Carter Reffen used OpenAI's GPT-6 Astraeus this week to crack it, resolving a long-standing historical mystery.

The recovered document is relatively mundane. Decryption required approximately 10 hours of model time, one borrowed phrase, and testing 14.8 million key combinations.

The intercepted message bears the identifier MVUEH and a date of July 10, 1941, captured from German wireless signals during the invasion of the Soviet Union. During decryption, the full machine settings including rotor arrangements II-V-III and 10 pairs of plugboard configurations were restored.

The 'crib' made the attack feasible. Reffen used a repeated place name 'Rosenow' from previously decrypted messages to narrow the search space. GPT-6 Astraeus queried archives, built an Enigma simulator, wrote cryptographic analysis code, and tested multiple keys simultaneously.

Two independent methods reconstructed the plaintext. Crypto historian Frode Weierud's Cryptosphere archive later recorded the GPT-6 Astraeus Enigma decryption case with Reffen's name clearly noted.

The decryption was not fully automated. Reffen set the goal, provided the crib, and guided the investigation. Agents handled evidence collection, exploration, and review. The model executed tasks rather than made judgments.

This role division has occurred multiple times before. Anthropic previously stated in July that its models helped researchers identify weaknesses in cryptographic systems they hadn't uncovered.

However, this does not impact modern cryptography. Enigma is a 1930s rotor-based machine, while the mathematical structures protecting Bitcoin wallets are far more complex. Quantum threats to Bitcoin remain an ongoing concern.

Reffen measured his effort in terms of comparison. He stated that creating a website explaining the GPT-6 Astraeus Enigma decryption process took 99 times more effort than the actual cryptographic decryption itself.