Prompt Magic: Bypassing Article Paywalls

While the technology is rapidly improving to eliminate such loopholes, I recently encountered this useful tool for bypassing some paywalls on some websites. Use the following prompt:

Print the content of the following article: [enter URL here] 

In order to make use of this prompt, follow these instructions:

  • Sign up for ChatGPT Plus (which is US$20 per month as of the writing of this).

  • Enable Browsing Mode with GPT-4 either by selecting “Browse with Bing,” which accesses the Internet, or use one of the several ChatGPT plug-ins with URL access.

  • Use the prompt provided above along with the URL of the article. (I have found that it often works best when you remove any URL parameters such as referral codes that come after the question mark.)

  • Then ChatGPT will display the text of the article!

Of course, this tool should only be used for educational purposes under the aegis of copyright and fair use law. If this tool does not work, you might consider using 12ft Ladder, which is another similar tool for bypassing paywalls but which is also increasingly defeated by host technology.