Here is a possible case study for you. https://OpenRouter.ai.
They are doing what you think of doing, for the various LLM APIs. Three reasons why they offer added value:
- Some people cannot access some of these APIs directly (GPT-4 in the advanced settings, Anthropic’s Claude is still close access)
- They abstract the way these API are accessed so that the code to use different models does not have to change much.
- For some reason, they cost the same as the original API
Look at the PDF carefully before sharing it. Most academic publishers put a timestamp on it that reveals who downloaded it, at least at institution level. Sometimes this is even embedded as metadata. If the PDF says anywhere “author personal copy”, please don’t share it on the author’s behalf.
This is mostly to avoid getting them into trouble.
Otherwise, go and share, authors love it!