A computer scientist, citing sources, says AI labs have started investigating whether their latest internal models can break important cryptographic protocols

-friend-of-the-blog Omer Reingold (shared with permission) — Last night my 9-year-old son was taunting my wife …

Shtetl-Optimized 2026-10-08 Scott Aaronson

Context & Ripple Effects

The report follows September claims—explicitly described as rumors—that AI labs may be withholding major mathematical results, as well as a 2021 push by U.S. agencies to prepare for post-quantum cryptography against future decryption. It shifts the concern from AI solving abstract problems to labs testing whether those capabilities expose concrete cryptographic weaknesses.

The concern also sits alongside demonstrated work on black-box jailbreaking of frontier systems: model capability and model security have already become linked operational questions. Public reaction has treated the cryptography claim as a potential national-security and infrastructure issue, but the cited probing is not evidence that any protocol has been broken.

First-order effects

AI labs reportedly probing cryptographic primitives must treat their strongest models as both research assets and sensitive offensive-security capabilities, increasing the case for restricted access and in-house auditing.
Organizations relying on public-key systems face a sharper incentive to review migration plans and disclosures if credible model-derived attacks emerge.

Second-order effects

Standards bodies and government security agencies would face pressure to distinguish demonstrated attacks from capability claims, while prioritizing cryptographic-agility guidance already associated with post-quantum preparation.
Cloud and model providers may face competing demands for researcher access and tighter controls, since broader model availability can also broaden the pool able to test cryptographic targets.

Third-order effects

If frontier models repeatedly turn mathematical advances into practical cryptanalytic work, cryptography migration becomes an AI-governance problem as much as a quantum-computing one.
The ability to test or withhold high-impact cryptanalytic findings would concentrate strategic leverage in the labs and states controlling frontier-model access.

The trend: Frontier AI is moving from general mathematical performance toward security-relevant research, making access controls and cryptographic agility part of the same policy debate.

Discussion

@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
Update from Scott Aaronson: Some AI companies are now using their latest internal models to take a run at breaking ‘important cryptographic protocols and primitives.’
@emollick Ethan Mollick on x
Some early first-hand accounts of encountering a narrow superhuman intelligence as mathematicians grapple with the hundreds of big AI proofs released by OpenAI. Problems solved in inhuman ways that make us wonder what it means to actually know things... https://scottaaronson.blog…
@kmad Kevin Madura on x
given the math announcements how many novel attacks on cryptography do we think exist now but are unreleased? What does this look like in 1 year? 5 years? I'd be eyeing DoD / NSA / NIST guidance pretty closely now @matthew_pines @matthew_d_green thoughts?
@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
Scott Aaronson on The Mathocalypse. 'The UGC proof invents a completely new bizarre code with a noise test. It's some crazy recursive construction. It's not the long code, not the short code - some alien craziness' I hear a lot of this today. Get used to alien craziness. [image] …
@matthew_d_green Matthew Green on x
@kmad @matthew_pines I think we might lose public key cryptography.
r/singularity r on reddit
The Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, from whom OpenAI has claimed to derive its legitimacy, said that frontier AI corporations …
r/accelerate r on reddit
The Mathocalypse
@drakefjustin Justin Drake on x
Today I call upon the blockchain industry to calmly begin planning for “bunker mode
@vitalikbuterin @vitalikbuterin on x
I don't recommend anyone scramble to move their funds to new wallets today. But we should take the risks to cryptography from AI-accelerated math seriously, and minimize our exposure to not just quantum-vulnerable cryptography, but also potentially AI-vulnerable cryptography. The…
@vitalikbuterin @vitalikbuterin on x
Correction: for multisigs the ideal “safe
@hosseeb Haseeb Qureshi on x
Doomerism has now hit cryptography... Unfortunately, on reflection, I think this is a very sober call. No reason to be taking unnecessary risk with all of the rapid progress happening in mathematics. The risk is not quantum, but just conventional mathematics overturning unproven …
@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
He also adds this, to which I agree: 'Also noteworthy is the striking under-representation of cryptographic breakthroughs among the 722 mathematical results OpenAI published. I've witnessed first-hand the US government censoring academic quantum cryptanalysis results. Backroom in…
@arthurb Arthur B. on x
A tell from the Manhattan Project was that scientists who had been publishing about nuclear fission suddenly stopped publishing. As Justin points out here, the lack of cryptographic results in OpenAI's mathematical breakthrough could itself be a tell. Evidence against it would be…
@camolnft @camolnft on x
If you own crypto, this is genuinely scary. A top bitcoin researcher, who actively works at the Ethereum foundation, is telling us to move our crypto to a bunker. He thinks there is now a reasonable possibility that superhuman AI discovers a way to break the cryptography securing…
@scottsantens Scott Santens on x
“The new model—which the company has not released to the public—produced almost every one of the results in response to a single prompt handed to a single AI agent.” That sentence is insane. https://www.scientificamerican.com/ ...
@pedrobeltrao Pedro Beltrao on bluesky
Open AI released 722 manuscripts (skipping preprint server) on 372 families of math problems. On average it took their internal model a few hours each. Despite the scientific advance this must be a difficult day for the thousands (?) of people that were working on these. github…
r/artificial r on reddit
OpenAI unleashes hundreds more math results upon a field already in shock
r/ArtificialInteligence r on reddit
OpenAI unleashes hundreds more math results upon a field already in shock
r/technology r on reddit
OpenAI unleashes hundreds more math results upon a field already in shock
r/EverythingScience r on reddit
OpenAI unleashes hundreds more math results upon a field already in shock
r/singularity r on reddit
The Mathocalypse
@dbaboci Joni Baboci on x
Apparently they tried the model on about 8,000 problems. So, right now it “merely” solves ~5% of the longstanding open mathematical problems that it's asked about, the problems that communities have spent years on, after a single 3-hour attempt on them. https://scottaaronson.blog…
@kmad Kevin Madura on x
Uhhh.. guys. Matthew is someone who actually knows what they're talking about.
@nneuman Nick Neuman on x
The best thing you can do to protect your Bitcoin against this is to make sure that you are not reusing addresses that you have already spent from. When you spend from a Bitcoin wallet on-chain, it reveals the public key(s) for that wallet. If the public key becomes known, then i…
@deedydas @deedydas on x
“Cryptography is a subfield that's extremely conspicuous by its absence from OpenAI's list of 376 papers! But my sources tell me that the AI cos have now started, gingerly and discreetly, investigating whether their latest internal models can break important cryptographic protoco…
@rezendi Jon Evans on x
“If you want some sense of what things feel like now in math, imagine a hunter-gatherer who's spent his entire life learning to survive deep in an unforgiving rainforest, then a giant resort hotel springs up right next to him with a helipad & heated pools” https://scottaaronson.b…
@matthew_pines Matthew Pines on x
... https://scottaaronson.blog/... [image]
@matthew_d_green Matthew Green on x
@kmad @matthew_pines Well, encryption specifically.
@photomatt Matt Mullenweg on x
Not good.
@profjasonpotts Jason Potts on x
So i just realised that mathematicians are going to evolve into priests, intermediaries for the math machine gods, translating what they say for the mortal humans, & conducting weekly sermons where we review their great lessons for our daily math lives https://scottaaronson.blog/…
@atabarrok Alex Tabarrok on x
Last night my 9-year-old son was taunting my wife, complexity theorist Dana Moshkovitz, as follows: “mommy, I heard you got cooked! I heard that a robotsolved the math problem you worked on for your whole career! OOF!” https://scottaaronson.blog/...
@tayvano_ Tay on x
oh this tweet REALLY blew up oh dear it'll absolutely cause more harm than what it's warning against lol oops
@eigenrobot @eigenrobot on x
this would be a very funny way of instantly bringing us back to the dark ages
@newmichwill Michael Egorov on x
Uhm. This is bad
@bitsagarob Rob on x
How to become quantumhacker-proof: Step 1: send to a new btc address Step 2: don't spend from that address Done
@goodtexture Matthew on x
this is coming from one of the pioneers of zero knowledge proofs
@lindellyehuda Yehuda Lindell on x
I wasn't going to comment since this is a really bad take IMO, but since it's taken off I feel the need to. To my understanding, there is no evidence whatsoever pointing to a break of decades old hardness assumptions like elliptic curve cryptography. 1/n [embedded post]
@jacobvcreech Jacob Creech on x
Unlike many networks, Solana users don't need to go into “bunker mode” ahead of an accelerated …
@fourvork @fourvork on x
TL;DR for people who don't know cryptography: Every Bitcoin wallet has a public key and a private key. …
@polarster @polarster on x
we're fucked [image] [embedded post]
@testinprodcap @testinprodcap on x
> they don't know that OpenAI already has a (log p)^k solution to discrete log, they just haven't published it because of how destabilizing it would be. That's why all the safety researchers quit. [embedded post]
@secparam Ian Miers on x
There's a risk AI breaks cryptography. Assessing the risk is hard, but assessing folks selling new crypto is not. Don't fall for it. There's no particular reason to think newer math (hash-based crypto, lattices, even QKD) is safer. If you're worried, you want defense in depth. Th…
@tayvano_ Tay on x
Hi. If elliptic curves are broken so that any exposed public key leads to compromise and it's by a financially-motivated hacker who's top priority is to steal crypto, the entire fucking world is going to zero. Having your magic internet coins in bunker mode is not going to help y…
@augeeidos Hiro Protagonist on x
This guy is either trolling or he genuinely does not understand quantum computing. …
@binji_x @binji_x on x
This might be the biggest opportunity blockchains have ever had. Technology has mostly …
@wallstreetbets @wallstreetbets on x
the black swan might be closer than we thought [embedded post]
@0xchainink @0xchainink on x
Vitalik just ranked the math. Hash-based beats lattice-based. Here's what 13 quantum …
@nic_carter Nic Carter on x
AGI and Q day will probably take place in the same year This isn't a coincidence Quantum error correction is just a really hard math problem What's AI really good at? [embedded post]
@kingfxyo @kingfxyo on x
one of the smartest people in crypto is now suggesting we prepare for the possibility …
@tyler_did_it @tyler_did_it on x
Thought this part of Vitalik's response to Justin Drake was noteworthy: * If it's not difficult for you, keeping your funds in addresses which have not yet been used to make a transaction is a good idea. If it's easy for you, do it. **But be careful about migrations; I personally…
@binji_x @binji_x on x
This industry has never been more relevant than it is today. Lock in. [image] [embedded post]
@newmichwill Michael Egorov on x
He's actually right: new sigital signature algorithms are not as lindy yet. Bitcoin folks probably know it well [embedded post]
@gwartygwart @gwartygwart on x
I thought bunker mode was when you log off for a year after bullposting eigenlayer [embedded post]
@coachkcrypto @coachkcrypto on x
I invested into @MatterFi_com which is also @Americanfort_io! They literally are the solution atm for this debate about ai become super intelligent at mathematics. I invested 5 years ago and they have a product that is going to be the solution! Suggest you read up on them! [embed…
@0xdiid @0xdiid on x
I've read this post 5+ times and I increasingly have trouble with the core point. …
@themisterturtle Mr. Turtle on x
“I'm not worried at all about this.” “Yeah, me neither.” “Did you even read anything he wrote?” “No, did you?” “No.” [image] [embedded post]
@dankrad Dankrad Feist on x
Hi. If elliptic curves are broken so that any exposed public key leads to compromise, and it's not by white hat hackers who save everyone's assets first, your coins are going to zero. Having them in bunker mode is not going to help you. They are still worth zero. [embedded post]
@xbtdln @xbtdln on x
Zipcoin coded... he did ideate it as his ideal version of private money. …
@itstheghost @itstheghost on x
worrying about your crypto due to quantum tech is like worrying about your vanguard account due to an apocalypse [embedded post]
@libertyswapfi @libertyswapfi on x
Unfortunately @VitalikButerin is right. RSA keys and signatures need to be ~400 bytes …
@teortaxestex @teortaxestex on x
Vitalik is very soberly explaining just how close to the cliff's edge we are (quite) [image] [embedded post]
@econoar Eric on x
Justin is right The answer isn't “sell all crypto” though, it's “what should we implement to fix this” Ethereum is ahead of most here [embedded post]
@coinjoined Coinjoined Chris on x
There are a couple of reasonable observations buried in this. A classical break of ECDSA …
@pimdewitte Pim de Witte on x
“The invention of the boat reduced the importance of swimming, but enabled the discovery of new lands.” Wow ❤️
@petergostev Peter Gostev on x
Terry Tao: “Mathematicians did not ask for this work to be done.[...] Mathematicians have a particular vision of progress that is informed by history and field-specific considerations.” Imagine 2030, OpenAI drops 700+ papers on medical research. Medical establishment:
@blackhc Andreas Kirsch on x
Mathematicians are coping so hard they might abolish irrational numbers again and turn the field into a guild https://terrytao.wordpress.com/ ...
@walmartthomist Christian B. Wagner on x
The seething is crazy here...
@harrydcrane Harry Crane on x
Mathematicians in a bad way. Centuries of shunning the real world has not prepared them well for handling real life.
@alz_zyd_ @alz_zyd_ on x
total disregard for the norms of scientific research, such as, don't work on problems other researchers are working on
@flowersslop Flowers on x
mathematics is an inherent open source property of the universe no one needs permission from mathematical elite to practice mathematics the human ego knows no bounds. gatekeeping has infected even the most fundamental forms of human creativity and intellectual pursuit
@elsleightholm Ellie Sleightholm on x
Important statement from the Association for Human Mathematics https://www.ahmath.org/... [image]
@_aashishreddy Aashish Reddy on x
Whatever sympathy I might have for the general concerns of people caught in the winds of this change, I have very little respect for this particular statement. With each sentence, it gets more downright contemptible.
@is_owenlewis Owen Lewis on x
I can hardly believe this is even real, but it is! They're treating math like it's a medieval guild and some upstart knave has stepped onto their turf. Or that they're some sort of priesthood and only they can understand the “high mysteries
@joelkatz David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz on x
I genuinely cannot tell if this is serious or absurd parody.
@cremieuxrecueil @cremieuxrecueil on x
>ethically sourced mathematics
@geelaw95 @geelaw95 on x
I'm having a hard time appreciating part of this statement. “Mathematicians did not ask for this work to be done” sounds like gate-keeping that undefines everyone who doesn't disallow OpenAI's action as mathematicians. https://www.ahmath.org/... (1/n) [image]
@snezanalawrence Snezana Lawrence on x
A piece of news from the The Association for Human Mathematics (AHM) about the recent release of new proofs by OpenAI https://www.ahmath.org/...
@fredsoda @fredsoda on x
if you've ever worked in basic research & development or academia producing novel science, you can understand why mathematicians are so upset
@richardhanania Richard Hanania on x
“Mathematicians did not ask for this work to be done.” lol who do these people think they are?
@aran_nayebi Aran Nayebi on x
Anybody who is a true scientist at heart, would *want* to know more *truths*, not less. Ergo, these are not true scientists.👇
@tokteacher Brett Hall on x
Imagine replacing “mathematicians” with “oncologists”, below. Imagine such experts, or experts in cardiology, etc, saying they didn't ask for medical research to be done by AI corporations because it “indicated a total disregard for the norms of scientific research”.
@inductionheads @inductionheads on x
We're making the right people angry
@platoonpod @platoonpod on x
In the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the creation of Deep Thought - the impossibly powerful sentient computer - outrages the Amalgamated Union of Philosophers, Sages, Luminaries and Other Thinking Persons. They stage protests and try to shut it down, not because it is wrong,…
@mostlymonkey @mostlymonkey on x
Pathetic.
@jessesingal Jesse Singal on x
“We reject OpenAI's assertion that this release advances our subject, and we urge mathematicians and the public to view the value of this publication model with due skepticism.” I meaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
@jessi_cata @jessi_cata on x
As a math researcher, I do not respect this association. Get rekt, losers.
@deryatr_ Derya Unutmaz on x
No! I'd call it the most disappointing statement from bunch of high priests of math! Math isn't any guild's property; it belongs to all humanity. Instead of cherishing this incredible moment in math history, they're mad their blessing was ignored. The days of gatekeeping are over
@codytfenwick Cody Fenwick on x
Wow, I didn't realize OpenAI was doing math without permission
r/ChatGPT r on reddit
Fields Medalist Terence Tao reposts statement from the Association for Human Mathematics urging mathematicians to stop working with OpenAI …
r/artificial r on reddit
Fields Medalist Terence Tao reposts statement from the Association for Human Mathematics urging mathematicians to stop working with OpenAI …
r/aiwars r on reddit
Fields Medalist Terence Tao reposts statement from the Association for Human Mathematics urging mathematicians to stop working with OpenAI …
r/accelerate r on reddit
Terence Tao reposts statement from the Association for Human Mathematics urging mathematicians to stop working with OpenAI
r/OpenAI r on reddit
Fields Medalist Terence Tao reposts statement from the Association for Human Mathematics urging mathematicians to stop working with OpenAI …
@teortaxestex @teortaxestex on x
There is strong evidence, however, that we might be dumber than rocks and wrong about a bunch of things. Humility is called for. [image] [embedded post]
@tarunchitra Tarun Chitra on x
Generally agree with this; there are also some other potential positives from AI: 1. Find new curves that have better hardness properties (e.g. searching through the parameters in the moduli space of curves has been manual in the past) 2. Prove better guarantees on hash functions…
@arielkwiat Ariel on x
Deeply embarrassing https://terrytao.wordpress.com/ ...
@twenseleers Tom Wenseleers on x
Open AI ran their GPT Pro model on 4000 open maths problems for 3h each & ended up with 722 manuscripts & 377 families of solutions. The rest it didn't manage, at least not on 3h. Pretty amazing! Manuscripts were all posted at https://github.com/.... Science renaissance coming. […
@ednewtonrex Ed Newton-Rex on x
Powerful statement from mathematicians around the world. “We urge mathematicians to discontinue their work with OpenAI and to return to a vision of science that centers human understanding.” The backlash to AI is only just beginning. https://terrytao.wordpress.com/ ... [image]
@cazroweb3 @cazroweb3 on x
AI could become one of the biggest security challenges for crypto in the coming years. …
@teomercer @teomercer on x
We've always assumed certain cryptographic problems are hard to solve because nobody has figured out a better way to crack them yet. …
@cz_binance @cz_binance on x
Vitalik's math score: 99.99/100 My math score: 0.01/100 So, together, we might make it into something... 🤣 (interesting thread 👇 to read, even if you understand as little as I do) [embedded post]
@stacy_muur Stacy Muur on x
“Worrying about your crypto due to quantum tech is like worrying about your Vanguard account due …
@dac_chain @dac_chain on x
BREAKING: A QUANTUM-PROOF BUNKER EXISTS. IT'S CALLED DAC. And we've been building …
@defiapes Atum on x
I just sold all my crypto I'm not gonna be the idiot that watched AI decompile and solve code as we know it and not think it'll have an effect on digital money Happy to be wrong and buy back later but feels like Russian roulette [embedded post]
@lluciano_btc Lucky on x
AI could become a serious threat to crypto security in the coming years. …
r/Buttcoin r on reddit
Exciting days ahead!
@brian_trollz @brian_trollz on x
Can't believe I'm retweeting somebody from Coinbase, but here we are. …
@d3h3d_ @d3h3d_ on x
if anyone was worried about the justin drake fud, this is a more level-headed take also - if you do believe the justin drake fud, the “precaution” isn't creating a fresh wallet lol, it's trading all your assets and fiat for physical commodities and storing them on your property […
@theinstagibbs @theinstagibbs on x
It's even more absurd than the PQ argumentz in that there is zero evidence... Which is somehow evidence itself. Grifters. [embedded post]
@kdean @kdean on x
Here we go again with the every few months our coins will be hacked. Enjoy the dip [embedded post]
@rob1ham Rob Hamilton on x
Pointing all the hand waving about AI breaking cryptography to this lovely thread by the head of cryptography at Coinbase. If you think AI could destroy cryptography, don't make vague assertions, show your work. [embedded post]
@alexanderlee314 Alexander John Lee on x
The current absence of evidence for an ECC break is not evidence that our existing security assumptions …
@cryptoklotz Doug Funnie on x
Two things here: 1) long term security vulnerabilities based on advances in AI, quantum …
@isabelfoxenduke Isabel Foxen Duke on x
“The fact that AI can prove theorems that have been hard does not indicate in any way that problems assumed to be hard are not. …
@tqbf Thomas H. Ptacek on x
I have the same friend and this is real.

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