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Reverse-engineer the RC2 cipher's secret table

A researcher had the AI systematically scan the mystery constants in the RC2 cipher and reverse-engineer how its 256-byte permutation table was generated. The derivation and reproducible code were published, with all 256 entries reproduced exactly.

How it works

  1. Point the AI at the mystery constants
  2. It systematically scans candidate constructions
  3. Derivation found
  4. All 256 entries reproduced exactly
  5. Publish write-up and code

Why it’s worth knowing

An open cryptography puzzle from the 1990s fell to an agent systematically searching the derivation space.

Where it’s from

Summarized from a public post on news.ycombinator.com. See the original ↗

Upgraded prompt

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1Who the AI should be
2The prompt, with the steps
3The check when it’s done
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