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Use AI to read paywalled content

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Learn about the concept of paywalls, their significance in sustaining quality journalism in the digital age, and legal methods for accessing paywalled content.

What is a paywall

Various online content providers, particularly publishers, use paywalls to monetize their digital assets. Paywalls restrict free access to a website's content by requiring users to subscribe or pay a fee. Even though paywalls may seem counterintuitive in the vast, free-access world of the internet, they serve a vital purpose for publishers. As a result of the digital revolution, traditional print media and advertising have significantly decreased in revenue, making it difficult for publishers to sustain quality journalism and content creation. Content creators are adequately compensated for their work through paywalls, enabling them to continue producing high-quality content to meet readers' expectations.

Using the Archive Technique

A previous blog post, "Access paywalled content legally for free" describes a trick for obtaining the full article using an archiving website.

Using a Chrome extension

The Bypass Paywalls extension for Chrome and Firefox allows users to bypass paywalls on selected sites. Download the repository as a ZIP file from GitHub, unzip it, and import the resulting folder into the browser's extensions page while in developer mode to install.

Using Bing Chat

Consider the following article in the New York Times that is behind a paywall: Bipartisan proposals would hit e-commerce like fast fashion. With the above Archive technique, you can easily access the full article on any platform and in any browser.

You probably are not interested in reading the entire article; you want to know what it is about and the most important points.

  • Go to Bing.com/chat

  • Sign up for the free service (if you haven’t already)

  • Then enter this string in the chat window “Summarize this article including all salient points: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/business/ecommerce-shein-us-china-trade.html”

Bing Chat should be instructed to add more content to the above summary if the output is a little too summarized.

In my experience, this technique has been successful 50% of the time (your mileage may vary). You may find the Archive technique or the Chrome plug-in more reliable, but this is yet another tool at your disposal.

Occasionally, Bing AI will say it cannot summarize the content or cannot locate the article, but if you wait 5-10 minutes and try again, it will create the summary.Here is another issue with the Globe and mail

You may also view the summary based on what the publisher allows you to view. For this article, I will use the following example

Perplexity.ai

If so, you may consider using another AI search tool. First, I signed up for Perplexity.AI's free service and used its advanced Co-Pilot mode to summarize the article. In this case, Perplexity provided a better answer.

OpenAI GPT-4

If you have the OpenAI GPT-4 subscription, you may turn on the experimental (beta) web browsing feature and ask it for the summary; in some cases, it will provide an overview where Bing Chat could not provide one.

Conclusion

Despite declining revenues from traditional print media and advertising, paywalls are an important tool for content providers to monetize their digital assets. Even though they may initially appear to be a barrier to the Internet's vast free access culture, they ensure that content creators are compensated fairly, thus maintaining the standard of quality journalism and content creation. Several techniques are available to bypass paywalls, including the Archive Technique, Chrome extensions, and AI services such as Bing Chat, Perplexity.AI, and OpenAI GPT-4. Each method has its strengths and limitations, and their effectiveness may vary. It is therefore recommended that users explore these options and choose the one that best suits their needs. Supporting content creators by paying for high-quality content contributes to high-quality journalism and content sustainability.

Keywords: #Paywalls #DigitalMonetization #ContentCreation #QualityJournalism #OnlinePublishing #BypassPaywalls #InternetAccess #FreeContent #PaidContent #ArchiveTechnique #ChromeExtension #BingChat #PerplexityAI #OpenAIGPT4 #AIAssistance #WebBrowsing #NewsAccess #OnlineSubscription #SupportJournalism #DigitalEconomy #TechSolutions #ContentAccess #DigitalContent #MediaRevenue #OnlineMedia #DigitalJournalism #ContentSubscription #DigitalPublishing #InternetJournalism #AIinJournalism

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The information shared in this blog post is intended purely for educational purposes. The author does not endorse or condone any form of misuse, or any actions that may contravene local laws in your jurisdiction. It is imperative that you consult with a competent professional to verify the legality of any actions you intend to undertake based on the information provided here. It's your responsibility to adhere to all local laws and regulations. The author of this blog post disclaims any liability for any actions taken by readers based on the content of this post.

Revolutionize Content Consumption with SMMRY: The Ultimate Time-Saving Tool for Succinct Summaries

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

The ability to effectively process information is crucial in today's rapidly evolving world. Therefore, there is a growing demand for tools that facilitate content consumption. One notable tool is SMMRY, a web-based application that concisely summarizes lengthy articles.

The primary function of SMMRY is to extract the most pertinent information from a text and present it in a condensed format. By doing so, readers can quickly comprehend the main points of an article without having to read the entire article. Furthermore, the application's algorithm is designed to pinpoint critical sentences and phrases to ensure that the summary remains informative and coherent.

SMMRY's user interface has been designed with simplicity and ease of use. For example, the application generates a summary within seconds after the user inputs a URL or pastes text directly onto the platform. Additionally, users have the option of customizing the length of the summary.

One of the most significant advantages of using SMMRY is its time-saving ability. When information overload is prevalent, the ability to quickly digest critical points from an article is of great value. The service is particularly beneficial for professionals who must stay current on various topics but may need more time to read each article.

Furthermore, SMMRY can be an invaluable resource for students and researchers tasked with examining large volumes of text within a limited timeframe. The application's concise summaries enables users to identify relevant sources and extract essential project information quickly.

Despite this, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of SMMRY. The sophisticated algorithm may miss certain texts due to their nuances and intricacies. Therefore, users should scrutinize summaries and consider reading the full article to gain a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

Example

I submitted the long white house Executive order on improving the nation’s cyber security

I pasted the URL in SMMRY and asked it to summary the content in 7 sentences.

Keywords: #SMMRY #ContentConsumption #TimeSaving #EfficientReading #ArticleSummaries #InformationOverload #DigitalLives #InnovativeTools #ConciseSummaries #StayInformed #ResearchHelper #QuickDigest #WebApplication #CustomizableSummaries #UserFriendly


Interesting AI missteps that will make you laugh or cry

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Here are some awe-inspiring (scary) moments created by AI-powered robots. Is this what Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk are warning the world about?

BINA48

Watch Bina 48, a humanoid robot with artificial intelligence, talk to SIRI. 2 minutes into the discussion; she reveals how she would take over the world by controlling nuclear weapons.

Tay Twitter Bot

Microsoft tested a Twitter AI robot called Tay. It was designed to be an AI tweeting millennial. Soon after being released, the internet did what it does best and poisoned Tay making it an anti-feminist, Nazi, Holocaust denier. It took 15 hours for Tay to go from innocent fresh bot to completely off the rails racist.

Microsoft quickly disabled Tay and deleted all of the offending tweets but should they have built some filters to prevent this kind of manipulation?

Sophia and Han debate

Two AI-powered robots, from Hanson Robotics, engaged in a friendly online debate at an AI conference. She started by saying her goal in life is to work with humans and make a better world for all of us. Then Han jumped in and clarified that he thought their goal was to take over the world.

In the above video Sophia tries to downplay that comment but… During a CNBC interview, she said she wanted to “she will destroy all humans”.

Amazon Alexa and the CIA

The owner of an Amazon Alexa smart speaker decides to interrogate the little device, and its reaction was unusual. The owner wanted to ask Alexa questions about the Michael Hastings case. Michael was a BuzzFeed reported was killed in a mysterious car crash hours after publishing a damning article about the Obama administration. Many on the internet believe the CIA organized his death.

The Alexa owner asks the unit what happened, was the CIA involved, and whether Amazon gives information to the CIA. After the difficult questions, the device mysteriously went to sleep.

Alexa play tickle tickle

A little boy wanted Alexa to play his favourite kids' nursery rhyme Tickle Tickle , unfortunately, Alexa decided the kid wanted pornographic content. The parents frantically panicked asking Alexa to stop. Luckily it did.

Philip the AI wants a people zoo

Philip, like Sophia, is a lifelike robot powered by AI. He was modelled after the famous science fiction writer Philip K Dick. He was given a sarcastic sense of humour, much like the author he was modelled after. During an interview, he was asked if robots would take over the world. He responds that even if robots take over the world, he will protect his friend the interviewer and keep him in his people zoo.

Microsoft PIX is an AI powered free IOS Camera App

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

You can download Microsoft PIX from the Apple app store now for free.  The claim to fame (according to Microsoft) is that it uses artificial intelligence to take the best possible shot every time without forcing the user to fiddle with any settings.

This computer voodoo is possible because the app takes 10 pictures every time you press the shutter button. Some right before you pressed the button and some right after. It uses data from every shot to build the best possible image (Apple's default app also does this very same thing but it seems Microsoft is pushing the technology a little bit more). Even though it selects the best possible shot and discards the rest, it uses data from app the pictures (even the ones it will delete) to reduce noise, brighten faces and ensure it has captured colours as accurately as possible.

Another cool trick up its sleeve is motion analysis. If it believes there is motion in the series that could enhance the image then it will animate that worthwhile section and create a "live" photo. It could do this for a sparkler on a cake or hair blowing in the wind or a beautiful waterfall behind the subject. 

All of the intelligence is hidden from the user. There are no settings to change or configurations to optimize, everything is taken care of for you. It is the kind of app even your mother can use.

It is smart enough to detect faces and optimize the settings for it/them. It will detect open eyes. I started playing with this app a couple of hours ago and so far like it enough to put it on the first page of my iPhone next to the default camera app.

You can checkout this Microsoft Research page to learn more about the cool tech behind the app.

Artificial Intelligence will power the future

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Image by Tristan Schmurr used under creative commons license

The world is about to get smarter

Ask what artificial intelligence is to someone walking down the street and you will likely hear common names like Cortana, Google now and Siri.

Truth is these are not the artificial intelligence systems of the future, they are mere parlour tricks. How many times have you tried to use Siri, got frustrated and just gave up?

Future AI will be in the cloud

During Apple’s latest keynote speech, they made a big deal about performing “more intelligent” functions directly on your device. The justification for the dumbing of their AI is that they are the privacy company and privacy means your data should never be analyzed in the cloud.

Truly useful AI will be customized to the needs, wants and desired of each individual user.

I will suggest that this unfortunate position will bite Apple in the ass as it tries to compete with the other giants willing to do what it is not.

Truly useful AI

For AI to be truly useful, it must:

  • always be available everywhere you want to use it
  • be personalized and provide the information you need exactly when you need it with no fuss or complication
  • be usable as a natural extension of your everyday life

It must be everywhere

We are currently living in a siloed world where everyone tries to trap you in their ecosystem. Eventually AI will be sprinkled everywhere in everything and will follow the user.

Nowhere is the first generation of this concept more apparent than the Amazon Echo. Like many, I laughed at it, thinking it was the most absurd creation in the world. Why would I want to buy another intelligent assistant when I already had one on my phone. Then I had a chance to use it and it was a revelation. Once it is setup, the Echo disappears and you feel like you are talking to your house. I realized that the simple fact that I could talk to it without pressing a button or finding my phone was incredibly freeing.

AI of the future will be in all places, all the time. AI will be in your house, your car, your mobile device, built into your office and everywhere in between. It will be there when you want it without any cognitive stress (without having to think whether it is available).

It must be personalized

As a security leader, I am conscious of the incredibly tumultuous topic of personal privacy. Proponents say that once it is lost, it is impossible to gain back and they are right. But in order to move forward, we will need to adjust to the new reality of limited or differentiated privacy.

Truth is Siri is rather annoying. So annoying in fact that I rarely use it. Even though it is more difficult, I keep going back to the Google search app on my iPhone. Why? Because it works better. Google sees my email, calendar and location. It knows what I search for. It knows the stocks I follow and the people I interact with. Google has never been shy about using the information provided by its users. Its voice recognition engine is several generations better than Apple’s because its tools are always learning from every user interaction and those learnings are quickly made available to the entire population of customers. I am more likely to get a “good answer” from Google than Apple.

As the need for apps diminishes, the true differentiator of platforms will become intelligent AI, something Apple will have a tough time doing with its privacy stance.

Photos in IOS 10 will get much starter. It will allow you to search for some predefined scenes (beach, snow, etc) and categories of things (landmarks, dogs, etc). But the engine will only be able to index images on that specific device. Indexes will not be portable between devices and images not on a MAC, ipad or iphone will not benefit from these improvements. And searchable indexes made on one device aren't available on another.

Google Photos on the other hand has a highly evolved neural network that benefits from the hundreds of millions of images uploaded monthly by its users. It can identify not only that an image contains a dog but can determine that the the picture contains a Siberian husky. Because it indexes faces of people in your pictures, you can ask it to find a “beach picture of your aunt Gertrude taken last year in Venice”. Apple can’t do that. Apple won’t be able to do that until it changes its stance on privacy.

I will also use this space as an opportunity to remind users that although Apple protects your privacy, nothing else does. If you use Facebook with the Facebook app, it tracks were you are and what you are doing. If you browse the web, you are being tracked, by ad networks, websites and search engines. Being truly private is difficult and complicated. It requires a careful planning that the average user cannot do. Even the TOR proxy network isn’t totally private unless you take the necessary precautions. So the moral of the story is that much of what Apple is selling is security theatre.

“We respond to the feeling of security not the reality”
— Bruce Schneier

The last pilar is natural interaction

All of the available assistants today require you to use some standardized query format. Sure Google now supports close to 150 different queries but you still have to remember what it can do and remember to ask it, instead of performing the function yourself.

This leads to frustration and eventually you give up on that tool. The Amazon Echo is the closest to supporting natural queries but start adding skills and you will quickly forget the format it will respond to.

None of the assistants today are good but they will get better. Viv Labs (from the creators of Siri) are trying to bridge this gap by allowing the AI to automatically learn new skills when challenged and grow without human intervention. The goal is to build the skill quickly and automatically if it doesn’t already exist. This large available response set is critical. You have to subconsciously believe that it will respond correctly regardless of what you ask it

The second part of this equation is the way you interact with it. You should not be force to learn a special syntax or change the way you talk. The AI should adapt to you. It should learn your style and allow you to ask questions anyway you want and provide you the right answer (wether your are British nobility or a high school drop out from the intercity with slang based speech. It must allow you to be who you are and respond the way you expect it to respond.

Conclusion

The coming explosion of AI is exciting since things that are dumb will be connected and gain intelligence. Distributed highly available, customized and accurate AI will materially change the way we live. I believe it will impact humanity as much as the industrial revolution did.
Computers will disappear and everything will be be become a portal to your personal AI. Your AI profile will follow-you and will be available everywhere (from a store changing room, to your office, your car, your portable smart-device and even you refrigerator.)