Technology
Researchers report factoring RSA-260 using autonomous software agents
Hacker News reports that Cognition used Devin agents to factor the 260-digit number.
The short version
- Cognition researchers utilized Devin autonomous software agents to factor the 260-digit number RSA-260, establishing a new public challenge record.[Hacker News]
- The achievement surpassed the previous RSA-250 benchmark set in February 2020.[Hacker News]
- The computational effort relied on a GPU-adapted general number field sieve rather than quantum computing or manual trial.[Hacker News]
- An estimated 4,900 GPU-days were consumed, while RSA-1024 factoring remains an expensive theoretical milestone.[Hacker News]
Key facts
- The Cognition research team used Devin agents to factor RSA-260, setting a new public record.[Hacker News]
- The prior public record was the factorization of RSA-250 achieved in February 2020.[Hacker News]
- The project was completed through a GPU-oriented implementation of the general number field sieve.[Hacker News]
- Computing costs were estimated at roughly 4,900 GPU-days, or approximately $400,000 at market rates.[Hacker News]
What remains uncertain
- Whether frontier AI labs or hyperscalers can actually factor RSA-1024 at the projected cost of roughly $30 million per number remains an untested estimate.[Hacker News]
Sources
Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.
- Factoring RSA 260Hacker News