Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 20 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Technology
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
A coded letter carrying a message from Napoleon Bonaparte to one of his senior generals has been cracked by AI after 217 years.
asserted
letter → cod → years
The contents of the letter, sent by Eugène, Napoleon’s stepson, on the emperor’s instructions, had remained a mystery since it was sent to Auguste de Marmont in 1809.
However, Carter Church, an AI engineer at cybersecurity company SentinelOne, said this week he had used OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra system to decrypt and transcribe the message for the first time.
asserted
he → send → time
The letter contained details of French and Austrian troop movements on the eve of war between France and the Habsburg Empire.
asserted
letter → contain → France
The note contained 1300 characters, some of which represented letters and other old words.
asserted
some → contain → letters
The cipher to decrypt the message has been lost, meaning the letter’s contents have been unknown for more than two centuries.
asserted
contents → decrypt → centuries
GPT-6 Astra – an advanced version of the AI system that powers ChatGPT – spent six hours transcribing the characters and mapping them against work from cryptographers that had solved 33 of the characters.
asserted
that → power → characters
It then decoded the message using a technique known as “simulated annealing”, a process of trial and error in which multiple candidate words are tried to see whether they fit, and compared them to Marmont’s existing writing.
asserted
they → decode → writing
While the process could have been done by hand, it would have been a laborious process that no cryptographer to date has accomplished.
uncertain
cryptographer → do → date
Church said he had never attempted to decode a cipher before but had been inspired to after seeing an AI model decode a 1941 German army message.
asserted
model → say → message
In that case, Carter Leffen, another tech developer, simply told the GPT-6 Astra AI tool to find and decrypt an unsolved Enigma message, which it managed in around 10 hours.
asserted
it → tell → hours
Recently released AI models have been found to be highly capable of solving mathematical problems as well as deciphering code.
asserted
models → release → code
Decrypting ciphers often involves painstaking work of patching together multiple possible combinations of words, something that AI systems can do much more quickly than humans.
asserted
systems → decrypt → humans
Researchers have raised concerns that the same capabilities will be used to unmask anonymous online profiles, by matching their writing patterns and other identifiers with real people.
asserted
capabilities → raise → people
The letter to General Marmont, who was stationed in modern-day Croatia and separated from Napoleon’s main armies, came as the Habsburgs prepared for war with France to regain lost territory.
asserted
Habsburgs → station → territory
It contains details of the locations and strength of the French and Austrian forces and instructs him to prepare to march and not be “intimidated by a few troops or a gathering of rabble”.
asserted
It → contain → rabble
The letter adds: “Austria will be attacked at once on every side.
asserted
Austria → add → side
She is consequently hastening towards her ruin.”
asserted
She → hasten → ruin
Marmont’s army was ultimately able to break out of Croatia and help Napoleon defeat Austria at the Battle of Wagram.
asserted
Napoleon → break → Wagram
Marmont was made a Marshal, a rank awarded to his senior generals.
asserted
Marmont → make → generals
Telegraph, London
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asserted
Telegraph → get → newsletter
The Aporia
