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Business/Information Technology Management (ITM)

Citing Artificial Intelligence

On this page, you will find guidance on how to cite artificial intelligence tools in three citation styles: APA, MLA, and Chicago Manual of Style.

Anytime your work has been produced or aided by someone or something other than yourself, you need to provide credit with a citation. This also applies to artificial intelligence tools.

Artificial intelligence tools include but are not limited to:

  • Chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Bing's Copilot
  • Text to image AI like Dall-E, Canva Image Generator, Craiyon, Adobe Firefly
  • Writing aids like Grammarly, Writesonic, Wordtune

APA

The 7th edition of APA Formatting and Style Guide does not currently have specific language on citing AI. The format below is from the APA Style blog entry "How to cite ChatGPT". Guidance may change with the next edition.


In-Text Citation

In APA, the author is the creator of the algorithm (ex. OpenAI for ChatGPT).

Format

(Corporation, Year information was generated)

Example

(OpenAI, 2023)


Reference List

Currently, generative AI is being cited like a personal communication.

Format

Corporation. (Date information was generated). AI Model (version date) [Large language model]. URL of model

Example

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. chat.openai.com/chat

MLA

The 9th edition of the MLA style guide does not currently have specific language on citing AI. The format below is from the MLA Style Center webpage, "How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?". Guidance may change with the next edition.


In-Text Citations

In MLA, there is no 'author' when citing AI. Use the prompt you typed into the tool to generate a response instead.

Format

("Shortened prompt")

Example

("List the themes")


Works Cited List

Format

"Prompt text" prompt. Model, version date, Corporation, Date retrieved, URL of Model

Example

"List the themes in Animal Farm" prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023. chat.openai.com/chat

Chicago Manual of Style

The 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style guide does not currently have specific language on citing AI. The format below is from the Chicago Manual of Style Online Q&A. Guidance may change with the next edition.


Footnote

In Chicago, the AI model (ex. ChatGPT) is considered the author and the corporation that developed the model (ex. OpenAI) is considered the publisher. The URL is not considered an essential part of the citation and can be added or removed.

Format

If the prompt has been included in the body of your text:

1. Text generated by AI Model, Corporation, Date retrieved, URL.

If the prompt has not been included in the body of your text:

1. AI Model, response to "Prompt," Corporation, Date retrieved, URL.

Example

If the prompt has been included in the body of your text:

1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.

If the prompt has not been included in the body of your text:

1. ChatGPT, response to “Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients,” OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.


Bibliography

Conversations with AI tools can only be seen by the user, unless you are using a browser extension like ShareGPT or A.I. Archives. This means that a conversation you have with ChatGPT is not publicly available or reproducible. For that reason, Chicago Style recommends that you cite ChatGPT in a footnote or endnote, but not in your bibliography: "you must credit ChatGPT when you reproduce its words within your own work, but unless you include a publicly available URL, that information should be put in the text or in a note—not in a bibliography or reference list." ("Citation, Documentation of Sources")