ChatGPT-6 Astra cracks 217-year-old Napoleonic code in just six hours
OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra model successfully deciphered a 217-year-old Napoleonic cipher that had remained unsolved for decades. The AI completed the task in approximately six hours using only a single image and prompt, revealing lost troop orders from 1809. The deciphered text provides new historical context by completing a sentence from Napoleon's memoirs that had previously been cut off.
- ▪Carter Church, an engineer at SentinelOne, used GPT-6 Astra to break a cipher from Cryptiana's Unsolved Historical Ciphers list.
- ▪The message was a troop briefing sent to French General Auguste de Marmont from the headquarters of Eugène de Beauharnais.
- ▪The AI utilized a partial key and a simulated-annealing solver to crack the remaining 24 rows of custom symbols.
- ▪The solution has been verified by Satoshi Tomokiyo, the maintainer of the Cryptiana database, and is mechanically testable.
- ▪The deciphered text completes a fragment from Napoleon's 1865 memoir regarding preparations for the Austrian invasion.
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| Publication time | Sun, 04 Oct 2026 13:08:46 +0000 |
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Tech Industry Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT-6 Astra cracks 217-year-old Napoleonic code in just six hours — single-prompt AI run solves 24 rows of custom symbols from a single image, reveals lost troop orders News By Mark Tyson Published 4 October 2026 OpenAI’s model completed the task after being fed just a single image and prompt. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Cryptiana) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter An AI engineer used GPT-6 Astra to reveal the contents of a cipher that hadn’t been read since the Napoleonic Wars.
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