AI Threatens Post-Quantum Encryption Before Quantum Computers Do

Researchers at Anthropic have made a significant discovery in cryptographic research that raises questions about Bitcoin's security. Their AI model, Claude Mythos Preview, has found novel attacks against weakened versions of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), one of the world's most widely used encryption systems.

The attacks were able to break the weakened algorithm between 200 and 1,000 times faster than previous methods. This demonstrates that frontier AI models are becoming capable of producing original cryptographic research.

Anthropic also reported that Mythos devised an improved attack against HAWK, a post-quantum cryptographic signature scheme.

Cryptographers have long warned that sufficiently powerful quantum computers could eventually break the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA), which Bitcoin currently relies on for transaction authorization. Developers are working on migrating to post-quantum signature schemes, with lattice-based cryptography emerging as a leading candidate.