• muzzle@lemmy.zip
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      5 months ago

      It’s not just AI, but there is a bunch of AI:

      To attack the problem, Baber used artifical intelligence and generated a list of 71 million possible 13-letter names. Using known details of the Zodiac killer, based on witness descriptions, he cross-checked those names against military, marriage, census and other public records.

      At the time, the Compton bungalow complex was called the Zodiac Motel, a fact Baber discovered by using AI to unearth a newspaper ad. He thinks it inspired the name the Bay Area killer called himself.

      • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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        5 months ago

        Baber used artifical intelligence and generated a list of 71 million possible 13-letter names

        So now making a special-purpose rainbow table is AI now, too? Or was he too ignorant to know how to do that without resorting to AI?

        a fact Baber discovered by using AI to unearth a newspaper ad

        AI like Google?

    • solrize@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      No way to know for sure but the article makes the theory sound somewhat persuasive.

      • NannerBanner@literature.cafe
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        6 days ago

        To be the devil’s advocate, that is exactly what AIs are good at. They give answers that sound great, and are, in many ways, like the exceptionally charismatic friend in the group that can answer ‘any’ question… and the answer is great until you get 15 years down the road and finally realize the tiny mistake/lie that unravels the whole bit.

      • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        If 3 separate NSA cryptographers agree it’s a feasible solution then I’m inclined to accept that. Especially since one of them independently discovered it meant the encryption key was “Elizabeth”.

    • Bakkoda@lemmy.zip
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      5 months ago

      That’s the perfect case for it imo. Ingestion is best done by something efficient, like a scheduler. Use the tool properly and there’s nothing wrong with it. Build it ethically and legally and it’s a boon for mankind. Don’t blame “AI” for the abomination capitalists have created.

  • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Wow, the coincidences mentioned in the article are quite shocking.

    • The key to the cipher turned out to be “Elizabeth”, which was actually discovered by one of three different retired NSA cryptographers who vetted this guys work.

    • When the suspect was elderly he drew a sketch very similar to the mutilated body of Elizabeth Short, also titled “Elizabeth”. The sketch reportedly has the word “Zodiac” hidden in it.

    • The motel where she was murdered & mutilated was likely the Zodiac Motel.