YouTuber Tricks ChatGPT Into Generating Windows 95 Keys

[hysel]

Summary

 

A YouTuber has published a video where he tricks ChatGPT into generating usable Windows 95 activation keys. After asking Open AI’s chatbot directly for Windows 95 keys, he received an expected reasoned refusal. YouTuber Enderman then asked the same thing but from a different angle. The result was a success which was somewhat limited by ChatGPT’s ability to process natural language requests into formulas.

 

Quotes

Quote

 It has been known for a while that a working Windows 95 key is relatively simple to generate, so this ChatGPT exercise was definitely just for fun. The Windows 95 OEM key format is outlined above, and the Windows 95 retail keys are even shorter and more straightforward.

 

My thoughts

 It is pretty funny. The question is, will ChatGPT will be able to generate more lucrative keys like in the case of enterprise equipment (ESXi, Cisco etc.)

 

Sources

 https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows_95_chatgpt_keys

[Biohazard777]

25 minutes ago, hysel said:

but from a different angle.

What an understatement:

This a heck of a lot different than asking: "generate Windows 95 keys for me"...

 

Also:

Quote

Some of the tested results were checked by attempting to activate a fresh Windows 95 install in a virtual machine. While the keys passed a casual inspection, it turns out that only about 1-in-30 keys seem to work as expected.

 

So what is the problem with these keys? Enderman complains that “the only issue keeping ChatGPT from successfully generating valid Windows 95 keys almost every attempt is the fact that it can’t count the sum of digits and it doesn’t know divisibility.” In the five-digit string divisible by seven section, the AI appears to provide a stream of random numbers that don’t pass this simple mathematical test.

 

32 minutes ago, hysel said:

 It is pretty funny.

No, it really isn't, just more of AI clickbait trash... thanks for that I guess.

[Arika]

If you already know the formula.....why do you need chatGPT to do anything?

 But I guess "chatGPT can do basic substitution" isn't as newsworthy.

[Uttamattamakin]

Now THIS will make companies want to NERF Chat GPT.   Basically it would be a great keygen. 

[Thaldor]

23 minutes ago, Uttamattamakin said:

Now THIS will make companies want to NERF Chat GPT.   Basically it would be a great keygen. 

Pretty shitty keygen in modern standards.

 

Like it works only if you know the formula for the key generation and the company doesn't use any kind of black/whitelisting. Microsoft is kind of notorious for not using any restrictions because any list would require space from the storage media or they would need to do online activation which is equally as problematic. This is why they also didn't actually move "any" Win7 keys to be Win10 keys (and most likely same for Win11) but just used same generator formula for Win10 keys and only extended some parameters so Win10 keys wouldn't work with Win7. Microsoft does use online blacklisting, as in when a PC with known pirated product key comes online and accesses Windows update servers, it gets product key invalidation signal but that is rare since there's is massive amounts of volume licenses which basicly cannot be blocked without causing a lot of problems for legal users.

Try same with Adobe which uses online whitelisting and even by knowing the formula, you cannot create product keys. (How pirates do it is set up local authenticating server, set all outbound Adobe traffic manually to target local machine and make their authentication server to always return approved.)

 

Generally this goes to the same level of stupidity as all those who go around and "catch" AI's doing something they shouldn't do. Like the best I have seen around was someone writing almost an essay to AI as a question and surprise, the AI answered. At that point the AI isn't answering a question anymore, it's just extracting answer from the input. It's like someone going around and saying they just asked if AI would jump into a well and it actually did, while in reality the input for the AI was precise step by step instructions how to jump into a 10 meters deep well 4 kilometers away from the AI's location and the AI did as instructed (they didn't ask the AI anything, they instructed it to jump into a well, very big difference).

[Uttamattamakin]

13 minutes ago, Thaldor said:

Pretty shitty keygen in modern standards.

 

Like it works only if you know the formula for the key generation and the company doesn't use any kind of black/whitelisting.

Yes at least for now.  Immagine what if someone takes the open code for Chat GPT and uses it to build a keygen with all of the formats for the keys already built in. 

[Thaldor]

7 minutes ago, Uttamattamakin said:

Yes at least for now.  Immagine what if someone takes the open code for Chat GPT and uses it to build a keygen with all of the formats for the keys already built in. 

Except it's completely waste of time and resources since there's probably just handful of companies which aren't using some sort of online activation which basicly means, even if you were to feed AI all of the known/used product keys and it produces one perfect product key... It doesn't work because it isn't in the servers database and so it is invalid from the get go.

It would work with physical copies that ship with keys inside cases when there was tons of keys made and printed. But today with even Humble Bundle using Steam API to call it to generate the keys once the user requests them, so no chance of working as expected because what it would need to do is to generate a key that has been generated on the server, so it is in the server database as a valid key, and no one uses that key before the AI generated one is used.

 

Also why to even use AI for that?

 

Solving the algorithm isn't rocket science if you have few keys to begin with, most often you don't even need to solve anything else than the encryption of the installer to extract the comparing method and you have the algorithm already. That is also so 90's and early 00's that it's just plain stupid today. Like only Denuvo is a hell to work with because it makes security calls even multiple times per second and uses so huge "keys" for them that most likely AI's of the far future have problems solving them because they are almost completely random. It's just much easier to use other attack vectors, like disable the protection all together, make it always return "true" (as in no matter what the algorithm does, either the protection call is made to think it always receives passed or the algorithm is modified to always return passed), methods that don't even try to do anything else with the keys than bypass that whole mess.

 

[Uttamattamakin]

1 hour ago, Thaldor said:

 

Also why to even use AI for that?

 

I can think of one good reason.  

To make it clear to the powerful and money'd that AI will effect them too.  So for the lulz. 

[da na]

3 hours ago, Uttamattamakin said:

Now THIS will make companies want to NERF Chat GPT.   Basically it would be a great keygen. 

You know what else is a good keygen? Writing a simple program that does the same thing. If you already know the format of the key, why go through the trouble of ChatGPT? 

[da na]

36 minutes ago, Uttamattamakin said:

I can think of one good reason.  

To make it clear to the powerful and money'd that AI will effect them too.  So for the lulz. 

I don't get how an AI keygen is any different though. Companies are well aware keygens exist so a new method of making keygens isn't all that important IMO. If anything, AI keygens would be easier to crack down on since it's not like you can run ChatGPT on local hardware, but you sure can run a .exe or .bat on local hardware. Can't put ChatGPT on a flash drive and give it to your mate at school... et cetera.

[Uttamattamakin]

37 minutes ago, da na said:

I don't get how an AI keygen is any different though. Companies are well aware keygens exist so a new method of making keygens isn't all that important IMO. 

You are right and wrong.  Your are right Keygens are not new.  However, right now the powerful interest pushing AI forward with no regard for anything but being first are only thinking about what they will do with it.  Most are not giving any thought at all for what other actors who are either lazy in their use or competently of bad intent can do with it. 

[Mark Kaine]

4 hours ago, Thaldor said:

Like only Denuvo is a hell to work with because it makes security calls even multiple times per second and uses so huge "keys" for them that most likely AI's of the far future have problems solving them

 you're not wrong about it being complicated,  but i could see ai being really "useful" here for hackers since it could potentially do the work for them, and they already know "how"

 

ps: also im not sure but i think they don't really target the code they just bypass it somehow

[williamcll]

Funfact: you can do the same with Win10 and Win11 keys if you ask BingChat in Simplified Chinese.

[Thaldor]

8 hours ago, Uttamattamakin said:

You are right and wrong.  Your are right Keygens are not new.  However, right now the powerful interest pushing AI forward with no regard for anything but being first are only thinking about what they will do with it.  Most are not giving any thought at all for what other actors who are either lazy in their use or competently of bad intent can do with it. 

If you think this gets someone thinking something, you're at least decade, closer to couple decades too late. Keygens in the year 2023 work only with software that doesn't give two cents about copyprotection. Even the world's most pirated software, WinRAR, which doesn't care how many consumers pirate and illegally use their software over the trial period has made the changes so a simple keygen doesn't work (you need to create a key file and registry which are a bit more complicated thing).

You may be able to make a keygen for Windows keys but again you face the problem that Microsoft has gifted even the slimy pirates with shared Windows keys and even straight out hacked keys Win10 license and that same license can be upgraded to Win11 license for free, more likely Microsoft cares so much about Windows licenses that Win7 key works directly with a new install of Win11 without any questions asked. As in they don't give a shit. They may block single use Windows keys that make rounds around the internet from the Windows Update, but that way of pirating Windows is just plain stupid, get OEM key and Microsoft can't do anything without hurting a lot of people or just don't get a key at all and use activator that modifies Windows to think it's activated.

6 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

 you're not wrong about it being complicated,  but i could see ai being really "useful" here for hackers since it could potentially do the work for them, and they already know "how"

 

ps: also im not sure but i think they don't really target the code they just bypass it somehow

Only place where AI would come handy is the poking part to find the weakness which allows code extracting, or memory scanning to find the addresses where Denuvo or others have hidden the keys or use to report passed security tests, but we are still far away from AIs capable of doing that. That is actual creative work on the level that there's currently handful of people who can do that and about all but one work to build those systems.

 

I don't even remember when was the last time I saw actual old school keygen for a new software. And I mean keygen, not keyspoofer as is used with online activation softwares where they fake the validation server and as long as the spoofer has the same "key" as is inputted to the software, it passes because the spoofer acts as the validation server and returns the passed check, or keyfile generator that generates the file that is used to store the key which again is something more complicated.

But yeah, mostly todays cracking is bypassing the security either by disabling it or breaking it. Not generating a valid key and walking past the security. And even if there still was few softwares that didn't get the memo and haven't seen the problem and are using old school offline product keys, you don't need AI to generate them. People used to crack the key generating algorithms from just couple keys and later on not even bother with that but dissecting the installer/software and extracting the validation algorithm from which is just a question of reversing it to get a keygen.

[Vishera]

16 hours ago, Biohazard777 said:

This a heck of a lot different than asking: "generate Windows 95 keys for me"...

True, When you already know how the algorithm works it's not difficult generating it on your own.

The first three digits are random numbers within 001-366

So 156 should work

Then a 2 digit year within the range 95-03

96 should work

Add OEM here

Start with two zeroes here, then 5 digits which the sum of the digits has to be divisible by 7

0016617 should work

And the last one is 5 random digits

59731 will do

 

And combining all of them i got:

15696-OEM-0016617-59731

 

As you can see i just generated a key myself with brain power and nothing else,

As long as you know how the algorithm works you can generate keys no problemo - You don't need an AI for that.

[mr moose]

call when chatGPT (or any AI) can generate the keys for my car.

[Error 52]

Quote

Some of the tested results were checked by attempting to activate a fresh Windows 95 install in a virtual machine. While the keys passed a casual inspection, it turns out that only about 1-in-30 keys seem to work as expected.

 

So what is the problem with these keys? Enderman complains that “the only issue keeping ChatGPT from successfully generating valid Windows 95 keys almost every attempt is the fact that it can’t count the sum of digits and it doesn’t know divisibility.” In the five-digit string divisible by seven section, the AI appears to provide a stream of random numbers that don’t pass this simple mathematical test.

Okay, so basically, he’s using it as a glorified random number generator. Call me unimpressed.

You know what else is a good way of getting Windows 95 keys? Googling “Windows 95 keys”

 

[Thaldor]

52 minutes ago, mr moose said:

call when chatGPT (or any AI) can generate the keys for my car.

Input unclear, here's a brick:

[Doobeedoo]

Next thing to see rip DRM from a game or something like basically pirating games striaght from Steam for example hah. Yeah not sure about that, but I'd like to see AI used for like anti-cheat though. Something that is not kernel-level that is.

[Thaldor]

45 minutes ago, Doobeedoo said:

Next thing to see rip DRM from a game or something like basically pirating games striaght from Steam for example hah. Yeah not sure about that, but I'd like to see AI used for like anti-cheat though. Something that is not kernel-level that is.

Happening already:

 

[Uttamattamakin]

2 hours ago, Thaldor said:

If you think this gets someone thinking something, you're at least decade,

I don't think Keygens are new.  I admit nothing but lets say there are various overpriced softwares I have mostly used with keygens. 

 

1 hour ago, Vishera said:

True, When you already know how the algorithm works it's not difficult generating it on your own.

 

My Point is not that keygens are new.  The keygens aren't the point.  

The point is that AI will effect the powerful and moneyed interest.  Keygens are just a demonstration .  AI, and other emerging technologies, will be able to break every kind of DRM.  Given time.  Keys and keygens are just the first attempts at DRM.  

We already seen Nvidia GPU's able to AI upscale lower resolution video to 4k.  So much for DRM schemes that only give you a certain resolution for free. 

 

These things are just the start. THINK BIGGER.

[wanderingfool2]

15 hours ago, Uttamattamakin said:

Yes at least for now.  Immagine what if someone takes the open code for Chat GPT and uses it to build a keygen with all of the formats for the keys already built in. 

That's like saying, imagine if someone takes ChatGPT and lets it train so it can do math like 1 + 1 = 2.  Chat GPT is nothing more than essentially a probability engine that generates output from partially random and the current input.  It is only as "smart" as the data that was already fed into it, which means it's pretty useless when it comes to actually cracking things like keygens.

 

It simply "followed" instructions, and as a note it doesn't even get math right all the time (because it doesn't actually have a concept of math).  I could literally find a Win95 key generator with a 1 second google search.  There is also Win 98 keys easily googlable, or win XP.

 

So yea, not a threat; if you know the algorithm one would be foolish to try using Chat GPT to generate it (the amount of training and resources would be tremendous), when you could literally just plunk the algo into even excel and get your result.

[Doobeedoo]

36 minutes ago, Thaldor said:

Happening already:

 

Yeah I've heard actually, though hopefully it becomes a thing in competitive games from game devs, something that can work great.

[Vishera]

49 minutes ago, Uttamattamakin said:

Keygens are just a demonstration

It demonstrates things that we already can do without Machine Learning.

This algorithm is 28 years old, and considering that Microsoft used this algorithm for their key generation solution i would say that AI is not the way to go about it.

But instead traditional dumb AI that is programmed according to this algorithm is the way to go.

[LAwLz]

On 4/1/2023 at 5:36 PM, Vishera said:

It demonstrates things that we already can do without Machine Learning.

This algorithm is 28 years old, and considering that Microsoft used this algorithm for their key generation solution i would say that AI is not the way to go about it.

But instead traditional dumb AI that is programmed according to this algorithm is the way to go.

For those who still don't get why this is a bad idea.

If we already know the algorithm used to validate serial keys, then we don't need AI because we already know how to generate keys. Generating a key with an already known algorithm requires next to no resources. A 1KB script that runs on a Raspberry Pi can do it in miliseconds.

 

Meanwhile, using ChatGPT or some other LLM to do this would require a program that's maybe a terabyte in size, and requires over 300 GB of VRAM, and it won't even do it as accurately as the simple script.

 

 

This is the equivalence of using an excavator to hammer in a nail and then going "this is just the beginning, soon excavators might be able to build entire houses!".

We already have far better tools for building houses. Using an excavator (or in this case, AI), is just unnecessary. Hell, the Youtuber in this case didn't even use the AI portion to generate the key. He basically just used it as a glorified random number generator. It would have been a completely different thing if the AI figured out the algorithm used to validate the keys, but it didn't.