Creating account
To create an account for ChatGPT, please note that it is currently inaccessible in mainland China. Therefore, you will need two tools to register accounts from OpenAI:
- Activation SMS: Use
sms-activate.orgto receive the activation SMS. - Virtual credit card: Obtain a virtual credit card from
vvacard.com. It is recommended to use a stable web proxy that matches the geographic information of your proxy with the card’s address.
API proxy
While the web UI of OpenAI is free to use, GPT-4 comes with a $20/month charge. Additionally, using a proxy may result in your account being blocked. To avoid this issue, you can utilize an API proxy. OpenAI recently announced that GPT-4 models are available for paid API accounts, allowing you to pay on demand. We recommend the GitHub project Yidadaa/ChatGPT-Next-Web for a ChatGPT web UI. It supports one-click deployment on Vercel and authentication by setting access codes.
In addition to the web UI service, certain localized projects such as binary-husky/gpt_academic on GitHub require access to the OpenAI API address https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions. While the binary-husky/gpt_academic project provides a PROXY option, it is more reliable to deploy a reverse proxy for the OpenAI API address. We recommend the projects gaboolic/cloudflare-reverse-proxy and gaboolic/vercel-reverse-proxy, both of which provide one-click deployment on Vercel/Cloudflare. For personal use, the free plans of Vercel/Cloudflare should suffice. Alternatively, using Nginx on a VPS is also a viable solution.
The final step involves setting up a domain since Vercel’s domains are banned in China.
Although this post is unrelated to the title, I have realized that after using GPT-4 and tools like binary-husky/gpt_academic, I feel that I am no longer necessary. This tool can teach, deduce, perform mathematical calculations, write and debug code, and even write academic papers and respond to reviewers. It is far more capable than me.
