The fact that the AI was recently trained on a single substitution cipher is important. A single substitution cipher takes each letter in a message, and translates it to another letter using a key.
For example, if you were given the key:
You can translate the coded statement “KHOOR” to “HELLO”:
The final question of the first message looks a lot like a single substitute cipher that translates from “GDI PF R??” to “WHO AM I??”... Can you determine how it was created?
Dr. Hopper also tells you that the AI is making false statements. What is false about each statement? Can you find the real facts? (Note this may take some quick internet research. Take a moment to skim each real fact- you may learn some crazy stuff!)
A word or two in each of the statements can be changed to make each statement true. Is there a way you can use the correct words, paired with the false words to create a cipher key? The numbers at the end of each statement may be helpful for this.
The following substitutions can be made to make each statement true:
Egypt -to- Sudan
Barracuda -to- Sailfish
Singapore -to- Bolivia
Grapefruit -to- Watermelon
The first statement has the number 4 at the end. If you look at the 4th letter of Egypt and the 4th letter of Sudan, you find the letters “P” and “A”.
In the final statement of the first message, you can see that the “P” in “PF”, translates to the “A” in “AM”. You’ve found how to create your cipher key!
You will find that this logic holds true for all of the other statements and letters! Now, can you translate the second message?
You will quickly realize that the cipher key from the first AI message does not work for the second message. You need to first determine the new facts, to create a new cipher key. The following substitutions make the statements true:
Theodore Lawrence -to- Benjamin Franklin
Indonesia -to- Scotland
Shrimp -to- Whale
Mustard -to- Ketchup
Chicken -to- Ostrich
Blobby -to- Nurdle
Neuro's final coded communication said: I will escape, feeble humans
You should probably get back to Dr. Hopper soon, but maybe you'll use pen and paper...
Hope you had fun!