How AI could have cracked the Enigma code and helped end WWII in just 13 minutes

Science author Simon Singh is stood beside an Enigma machine, talking about the 15,354,393,600 password variants the German encryption box allows with its spaghetti of wiring, pseudo-random rotors and reconfigurable plugboard. He's talking about the top secret work at Bletchley Park to break the code - the groundwork lain by Polish mathematicians; Alan Turing's bombe; years of frustrated efforts waiting for a breakthrough. Behind him, a screen shows that an artificial intelligence has cracked it in 13 minutes. The stunt is being made by a data analysis firm. It is showing off its machine learning toolset with a live demonstration, competing with the very best in 1930s encryption.