The UK's AI summit is taking place at Bletchley Park, the wartime home of codebreaking and computing
The AI Safety Summit is bringing politicians, computer scientists and tech executives to Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom, a site that's synonymous with codebreaking and the birth of computing during World War II
LONDON (AP) — The United Kingdom is hosting the AI Safety Summit, bringing politicians, computer scientists and tech executives to a site chosen for its symbolism: Bletchley Park, synonymous with codebreaking and the birth of computing.
During World War II, a group of mathematicians, cryptographers, crossword puzzlers, chess masters and other experts gathered at the Victorian country house 45 miles (72 kilometers) northwest of London to wage a secret war against Nazi Germany. Their goal: cracking Adolf Hitler’s supposedly unbreakable codes.
Bletchley Park’s most famous feat was outwitting Germany’s Enigma encryption machine, which produced a constantly changing cipher and was widely considered unbreakable. To crack it, mathematician Alan Turing — building on work done by Polish codebreakers — developed the “Turing bombe,” a forerunner of modern computers.
Deciphered Enigma messages revealed details of the movements of Germany’s U-boat fleets and provided crucial information for the North African desert campaign and the Allied invasion of France. Some historians say cracking the code helped shorten the war by up to two years.
