AI cracks 217-year-old secret Napoleon military letter

AI engineer Carter Church has successfully used OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra model to decrypt a secret military letter from 1809 that had remained unreadable for 217 years. The document, sent on Napoleon Bonaparte’s orders via his stepson Eugène de Beauharnais, was addressed to Marshal Auguste de Marmont, who was stationed in Dalmatia (modern-day Croatia).

Using a single low-resolution scan of the document, the AI completed a complex multi-modal workflow in approximately six hours. The process involved transcribing roughly 1,300 symbols, identifying 175 unique hand-drawn characters, and utilizing a simulated annealing algorithm to reconstruct the lost key. The AI cross-referenced its findings with historical records and French linguistic patterns to ensure accuracy.

The decoded text provides a detailed military briefing regarding the positions and strength of French, Bavarian, Polish, and Saxon forces during the period when France was preparing for war with the Austrian Empire. The breakthrough was independently verified by cryptographer Satoshi Tomokiyo, who marked the cipher as solved.