Can a Computer Break Secret Codes? Meet the AI Helping do that!

When you think of Artificial Intelligence, or AI, you might imagine a talking robot or a machine that walks like a person. But AI isn't just something from a science fiction movie. Today, it helps us choose fun movies to watch, plays games like chess, chats with us using tools like ChatGPT, and even helps doctors find signs of diseases.

Now AI is doing something even more amazing. It's learning how to test secret codes that protect private information online, like your passwords and credit card numbers.

Dr. Kristin Lauter is a math expert who works at Meta, a company that researches AI. She and her two interns had a big idea. They wanted to see if AI could help check whether online security codes are strong enough. These codes are built using really tricky math problems. The harder the math, the better the protection. But what if someone could find a shortcut to solve those problems?

That's what Kristin's team tested. They worked on a popular code called "Learning With Errors." It hides secrets inside math problems that include small, random mistakes. Their AI tool, named SALSA, tried to guess the secrets by spotting patterns in the numbers. SALSA stands for Secret-recovery Attacks on Learning with Errors via Sequence-to-sequence models with Attention. It used a type of AI that reads lists and finds patterns to make smart guesses.

One version of SALSA worked well enough that Kristin's team told the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the group that helps decide which codes are safe to use online. SALSA didn't crack the code fully, but it got close enough to be worth sharing.

The Math Behind the Secrets

Secret codes often use modular arithmetic, a type of math that wraps numbers around like a clock. For example:

(5+3) mod 7 = 1

This means that when you add 5 and 3 and divide by 7, the remainder is 1. That kind of math is great for hiding information in ways that are hard to reverse without the key.

The codes also use vectors, which are like number lists that describe direction and size, and linear algebra, which helps mix and scramble information.

The AI looks at lots of these math problems and tries to find patterns. It learns which numbers are likely to appear and makes smart guesses. It's like a detective trying to solve a mystery using clues from many similar cases.

Why It Matters

Every time you go online, play games, or send messages, secret codes protect your data. AI is helping make sure those codes are strong by trying to break them first. That way, we can fix any weaknesses before bad guys find them.

By learning math and computer science, you could one day help build stronger security or even design the next amazing AI that keeps the internet safe. Math and curiosity can truly change the world.