Would Nazi WWII encryption stand a chance against today’s AI?

The Enigma encryption machine developed by Germany during World War II was a pinnacle of its time, with the code being incredibly difficult to break. It took a monumental effort from Alan Turing and a team of Allied cryptologists to break it, and it is estimated that they shortened the war by up to two years in doing so.

But how would Enigma fare against the computers of today, specifically recent advancements in artificial intelligence like ChatGPT? The general consensus is that generative AI programs like OpenAI’s ChatGPT would wipe the floor with Enigma. “Enigma wouldn’t stand up to modern computing and statistics,” according to Michael Wooldridge, a professor of computer science at the University of Oxford.

Gizmodo reporter Margherita Bassi asked ChatGPT to weigh in, and it agreed, saying, “Wooldridge’s quote is broadly accurate: Enigma would not stand a chance today. But it’s not because AI like ChatGPT alone can break it — it’s because modern computing can trivially simulate what the Allied bombes did, and do so much faster.”