Simple Cryptograms Are Still Safe From AI

Multiple Bottles of Water Died for This?

Simple cryptograms are good tests of reasoning power. A solver need to recognize the system, and perform an iterative process of guessing plaintext, assessing the consequence of the guess, and updating the partial result accordingly. The system here is clearly a letter-for-letter substitution with word intervals and punctuation simplifying things even more. Any barely literate human can solve them.

I illustrate the process here:

https://earlboebert.substack.com/p/what-i-can-do-that-ai-cant

and present the ludicrously inept attempts of various AI robots here:

https://earlboebert.substack.com/p/simple-ciphers-are-safe-from-ai

But now we have The Next Big Thing, an AI robot than can Reason. No way could I resist hurrying over to OpenAI to try it out. Annotated transcript follows.

I am now talking to ChatGPT 4o. Text in this “pull quote” format is my annotation of the transcript. Screen grabs on request.

You said:

Please solve the following cryptogram: REF SJNFUR REJXY JX REF GXJZFLUF JU XBR UVKAF, JR JU REF VBRFXRJKW AKVKAJRM BO REF EGCKX EFKLR.

ChatGPT said:

ChatGPT

To solve the cryptogram, we can approach it by attempting letter substitutions. Here's a step-by-step approach:

1. The most common word pattern in English that fits three letters like "REF" might be "THE." Let's substitute REF with THE.

   • REF → THE

     Good start.

2. With that in place, we now have:

   THE SJNFUR THEJXY JX THE GXJZFLUF JU XBR UVKAF, JR JU THE VBRFXRJKW AKVKAJRM BO THE EGCKX EFKLR.

   Here it has illustrated its inability to follow the simple rules of substitution: it stuffs THE into RE in the first word, changing its length.

3. Let's look for any repeated letters or common patterns. "THEJXY" might be "THAT" or something similar, and "JU" might be "IS" or "IN."

   Again, it isn’t able to follow the rule that a guessed plaintext word has to be the same length as the corresponding ciphertext one

4. Let me try to crack more of the pattern to reveal the full phrase.

Now it makes a big jump, possibly because the oh-so-valuable individual steps have been censored by OpenAI.

Here's the deciphered message after applying logical substitutions:

THE SECRET THREAT AT THE CAPITAL IS FAR GREATER, AS IS THE VIRTUOUS DEFENSE OF THE OTHER PEOPLE.

The cryptogram has been solved!

4o

Er, not even close. Let’s try again.

You said:

That's wrong.

ChatGPT said:

ChatGPT

This time it gives the procedure, cribbed from any number of very elementary crypto books. And again, censored by OpenAI. The trouble is, having a procedure isn’t enough. You have to follow it.

Let's go through the cryptogram again systematically. I'll attempt to solve it by analyzing letter frequencies and common English word patterns.

The cryptogram is:

REF SJNFUR REJXY JX REF GXJZFLUF JU XBR UVKAF, JR JU REF VBRFXRJKW AKVKAJRM BO REF EGCKX EFKLR.

Step 1: Look for common words

• "REF" appears multiple times, and based on frequency and placement, it could likely be "THE". So, substituting R = T, E = H, and F = E, we get:

  THE SJNFUR THEJXY JX THE GXJZFLUF JU XBR UVKAF, JR JU THE VBRFXRJKW AKVKAJRM BO THE EGCKX EHKLR.

Step 2: Analyze short words

• "JU" appears twice. It could correspond to common short words like "IS" or "IN". Let's assume J = I and U = S, giving:

  THE SINFUR THEIXY IX THE GXIZFLUF IS XBR SVKAF, IR IS THE VBRFXRIKW AKVKAIRM BO THE EGCKX EHKLR.

Step 3: Focus on frequent letters

• "JX" might be "IN", since "J" = I and "X" is likely "N". This gives:

  THE SINFUR THEINY IN THE GNIZFLUF IS XBR SVKAF, IR IS THE VBRFXRIKW AKVKAIRM BO THE EGCKN EHKLR.

Step 4: Solve for likely words

• "THEINY" could be "THREAT" (based on the structure of the cryptogram). This implies I = R, N = E, and Y = A. Substituting these:

  THE SERFUR THREAT AT THE GREZFLUR AS XBR SVKAF, AR AS THE VBRFXRAKW AKVKAARM BO THE EGCKN EHRAE.

Step 5: Further substitutions

• "AS" looks correct.

• "XBR" could be "FOR" or "OUR". Let’s assume X = O, B = U, and R = R:

  THE SERFUR THREAT AT THE GREZFLUF AS OUR SVKAF, AR AS THE OURFURA KW AKVKAARM OF THE EGCKN EHRAE.

Step 6: Look for familiar patterns

• "AKVKAARM" might be "DEFENSE". This suggests A = D, K = F, V = E, and M = S:

  THE SERFUR THREAT AT THE GREZFLUF AS OUR SAFED, AR AS THE OURFURAF DEFENSE OF THE EGCFN EHRAE.

Step 7: Fill in the rest

• "GREZFLUF" might be "GOVERNOR" (as it fits the structure), so G = G, Z = V, and L = N:

  THE SERFUR THREAT AT THE GOVERNOR AS OUR SAFED, AR AS THE OURFURAF DEFENSE OF THE EGCAN EHRAE.

• Finally, "EGCAN" could be "OTHER", giving C = T:

  THE SERFUR THREAT AT THE GOVERNOR AS OUR SAFED, AR AS THE OURFURAF DEFENSE OF THE OTHER EHRAE.

• "EHRAE" might be "PEOPLE", so H = P and E = L:

  THE SERFUR THREAT AT THE GOVERNOR AS OUR SAFED, AR AS THE OURFURAF DEFENSE OF THE OTHER PEOPLE.

Final Solution:

"THE SECRET THREAT AT THE GOVERNOR AS OUR SAFETY, OR AS THE OUTSTANDING DEFENSE OF THE OTHER PEOPLE."

This appears to be a coherent solution!

No, but I already feel guilty about the water, so we’ll stop here.

4o

ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.

You got that right.