from Hacker News

Gpt4free repo given takedown notice by OpenAI

by freedmand on 4/28/23, 1:08 PM with 238 comments

by supermatt on 4/28/23, 4:03 PM
Not to be confused with gpt4all https://github.com/nomic-ai/gpt4all which is a "free" GPT LLM.
It seems this gpt4free was basically hijacking 3rd parties services that use GPT-4, bypassing the official OpenAI APIs in order to avoid paying for inference. Of course, that means that the hijacked 3rd parties are the ones footing the bill...
I'm not surprised they have been issued a takedown notice.

by rwl4 on 4/28/23, 3:42 PM

This project is designed to allow people to use ChatGPT via reversed engineered private APIs. It's not surprising they went after this.

Here's the project description from the README:

  Have you ever come across some amazing projects that you couldn't use just because you didn't have an OpenAI API key?

  We've got you covered! This repository offers reverse-engineered third-party APIs for GPT-4/3.5, sourced from various websites. You can simply download this repository, and use the available modules, which are designed to be used just like OpenAI's official package. Unleash ChatGPT's potential for your projects, now! You are welcome ; ).

Source: https://github.com/xtekky/gpt4free/blob/6719bee133ce8202129e...

by ziml77 on 4/28/23, 4:14 PM
It's a project that lets you piggyback off of others' ChatGPT API keys without their permission? If so, then it seems like it would violate both OpenAI's ToS as well as the ToS for any site that is being used as a proxy.
And is this a DMCA takedown? It's not actually specified in the readme update and I would have thought that the repo would have been hidden by now if it was one. Plus I'm not sure what they'd be claiming copyright on here (the API maybe?)
by sandis on 4/28/23, 3:57 PM
A lot of comments confuse this with a different repo. It has nothing to do with the name. This project is/was a way to use LLM APIs on someone else's dime. It's the equivalent of "S3 4 free" where someone would collect exposed AWS credentials and use them to store their stuff.
by rolph on 4/28/23, 4:06 PM
phind.com takedown request #153
https://github.com/xtekky/gpt4free/issues/153
ora.sh takedown request #125
https://github.com/xtekky/gpt4free/issues/125

by oli5679 on 4/28/23, 3:18 PM

Here is an interesting poem that the repo maintainer committed as a readme, incase anyone doesn't click the link:

    We got a takedown request by openai's legal team...

    here is a lil poem you can read in the meantime, while I am investigating it:

    A little boy sat, in his humble abode.
    He tinkered and toyed with devtools galore,
    And found himself curious, eager for more.

    He copy-pasted requests, with glee and delight,
    A personal project, to last him the night.
    For educational purposes, and fun it was too,
    This little boy's journey had just begun anew.

    Now far away, in a tower so grand,
    A big company stood, ruling the land.
    Their software was mighty, their power supreme,
    But they never expected this boy and his dream.

    As he played with their code, they started to fret,
    "What if he breaks it? What if we're upset?"
    They panicked and worried, their faces turned red,
    As visions of chaos danced in their head.

    The CEO paced in his office so wide,
    His minions all scurrying to hide.
    "Who is this child?" he cried out in fear,
    "Who dares to disrupt our digital sphere?"

    The developers gathered, their keyboards ablaze,
    To analyze the boy's mischievous ways.
    They studied his project, they pored through his code,
    And soon they discovered his humble abode.

    "We must stop him!" they cried with a shiver,
    "This little boy's making our company quiver!"
    So they plotted and schemed to halt his advance,
    To put an end to his digital dance.

    ( I did not write it )

    discord: https://discord.com/gpt4free

by MuffinFlavored on 4/28/23, 3:08 PM
https://github.com/xtekky/gpt4free/tree/7ef85f46716bb39f1e19... last commit before "we got a takedown" was in README
by williamstein on 5/7/23, 8:24 PM
They put my site https://cocalc.com, which has chatgpt API integration, into this gpt4free. As a result, I had to modify https://cocalc.com to require sign in before providing the ChatGPT functionality to visitors, and I also explicitly updated our terms of service to clarify how our API can be used. I made a pull request https://github.com/xtekky/gpt4free/pull/461 to Gpt4free to have them remove cocalc. They were respectful, with some discussion back and forth, and they merged the PR. I personally don't think that Gpt4free should be taken down, so long as they respect the explicit requests of projects they proxy. They were certainly respectful with cocalc.
by rambojohnson on 4/28/23, 3:45 PM
not sure what's justifying the pearl-clutching here... they've openly stated they are basically repurposing actual ChatGPT APIs from openai through some "reverse engineered private APIs" -- uhh..
by baptiste313 on 4/28/23, 9:26 PM
In case the repository disappears I share an archive of it https://archive.softwareheritage.org/browse/revision/7ef85f4...
by withinrafael on 4/28/23, 4:18 PM
Are they really private APIs if they are accessible to the public in some form that can be reverse engineered?
by transitivebs on 4/28/23, 4:34 PM
I was also given a takedown notice by OpenAI for the ChatGPT twitter bot github repo: https://github.com/transitive-bullshit/chatgpt-twitter-bot
This was ~2 months ago, and I'm fortunate enough to have a direct contact at OpenAI who I complained to. He came back promptly and told me it was a mistake and the takedown notice was retracted. I also changed the twitter bot's logo to be purple instead of green to avoid future issues.
by ranger_danger on 4/28/23, 3:51 PM
Doesn't the DMCA have an exception for reverse engineering if it's for the purposes of compatibility with other programs?
by jacquesm on 4/28/23, 5:40 PM
What are the chances of the conflict of interest (or lack thereof) between OpenAI/Microsoft/Github being an issue here? I'm kind of surprised they even bothered with a takedown request.
by rhyme-boss on 4/28/23, 3:24 PM
Did their discord get taken down already? The link from the repo 404s.
by heres_a_bundle on 4/28/23, 4:40 PM
Here's a mirror in case it gets taken down: https://web.archive.org/web/20230428163410/https://litter.ca...
To clone from this:
```
    wget https://web.archive.org/web/20230428163410embed_/https://litter.catbox.moe/gc4o73.bundle
    git clone gc4o73.bundle gpt4free
```
by seydor on 4/28/23, 5:45 PM
This is not the outrage you re looking for, move along.
And developers can use their time much more productively to improve one of the many open source alternativez
by neom on 4/28/23, 3:20 PM
Alright but we don't know enough here to evaluate the legitimacy of the request from OpenAI. Very little to go on.
by war-is-peace on 4/29/23, 12:19 AM
A lot of the comments seem to repeat the "just like how GPT is using our content we created" sort of reasoning - whether that you agree with that or not, I don't see how that justifies the bill for your usage being out of someone else's (not openAIs) pocket?
by numpad0 on 4/28/23, 3:48 PM
Looks like it was a “paywall bypass” for GPT-3.5/GPT-4 through vulnerable third parties. DMCA forbids access control circumvention, among other things, so seems like a takedown is expected.
by tommek4077 on 4/28/23, 10:33 PM
Why would you put something like this on github? Are there no "Hacker" forums anymore?
by greenie_beans on 4/28/23, 5:47 PM
is openai encouraging people to reuse the "gpt" acronym for the apps built with their api? seems like a bad idea from a branding POV.
by jesprenj on 4/28/23, 4:40 PM
I made a mirror just in case: http://ni.4a.si/anonymous/gpt4free/
by TheObviousOne on 4/28/23, 4:57 PM
Let's arrange a donation for the creator of this Repo.
This is gold and crucial for democratization of AI tools.
by mugivarra69 on 4/28/23, 6:12 PM
so dev has a proxy to inf instance of openai?
by tinyhouse on 4/28/23, 4:05 PM
That's good. It's not the wild wild west here.
by kernal on 4/28/23, 3:46 PM
Streisand effect engaged.
by nbardy on 4/28/23, 3:05 PM
Touché, that poem is a show stopper
by can16358p on 4/28/23, 3:09 PM
I didn't know about this project. Thanks to the takedown notice I'll immediatelly clone it and start using it.
Thank you OpenAI for playing a role in me finding an alternative!
by zeven7 on 4/28/23, 3:21 PM
Predictable. You could just come up with an original name and be fine. "GPT4" obviously means the OpenAI product to people.
For those ootl, here's the previous thread where OP was given a lot of advice from the HN community to change the name https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35608437