An engineer uses artificial intelligence to decode a letter from the Napoleonic era that was written with a military cypher and had remained unsolved for more than 200 years. The work reportedly completes the decoding in roughly six hours.
Both outlets describe the letter as a “secret” message ordered in the context of Napoleon’s operations, intended to convey strategic information between his troops. Live Science characterizes the result as akin to a “Rosetta Stone,” highlighting the historical significance of translating an unknown cipher. Euronews focuses on the speed and engineering approach, saying AI succeeds where earlier attempts failed. Both accounts credit an AI system—described by Live Science as GPT-6 Astra—with performing the decryption, without detailing specific cipher mechanics in the coverage.
