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Artificial Intelligence: Citing Generative AI

Citing Generative AI

Be sure to understand and use AI tools only when permitted. If you are able to use an AI tool, make sure to cite it appropriately.

According to best practices, citing an AI tool should include in the introduction/methodology portion of your paper:

  • The prompt used
  • The text generated by the AI Tool (if this text response is lengthy, it can be included in an appendix)

 

The in-text citation and the Reference page follow the examples below: 

Format:

Company that made the tool (date text was generated). AI tool (version of tool) [Large language model]. URL

In-text example: 

(OpenAI, 2025)

Reference example: 

OpenAI (2025). ChatGPT (May 24 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

[taken and modified from Georgetown University Library]

According to MLA, you should:

  • "cite a generative AI tool whenever you paraphrase, quote, or incorporate into your own work any content (whether text, image, data, or other) that was created by it 
  • acknowledge all functional uses of the tool (like editing your prose or translating words) in a note, your text, or another suitable location 
  • take care to vet the secondary sources it cites"

Citing AI Tools should look like this:

Format:

"Prompt text" prompt. AI tool, version of tool, company that made the tool, date text was generated. URL. 

Example:

“Describe the symbolism of the green light in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald” prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

Chicago Style provides this guidance:

"The specific information to include in the text or in the note when citing AI-generated content is as follows:

  • The prompt used when utilizing ChatGPT or other AI; 
  • The AI software used to create the content (e.g., ChatGPT) and the software’s publisher or developer (e.g., OpenAI);
  • The date when the content was generated;
  • The URL (if available) of a publicly archived copy of the conversation;

Format:

Prompt already included in paper:

1. Text generated by [name of the AI tool], date, Company that made the tool, URL.

Prompt not yet included in paper: 

1. [Name of the AI tool], response to "prompt," date text was generated, Company that made the tool, URL.

In-text example:
The following definition of a multi-site case study comparison method was generated on September 9, 2024, by ChatGPT-4o, using the prompt “Explain what is a multi-site case study comparison method using recent published examples.”

Note example:
1. Response to “Explain what is a multi-site case study comparison method using recent published examples," ChatGPT-4o, OpenAI, September 9, 2024, https://chat.openai.com/share/90b8137d-ff1c-4c0c-b123-2868623c4am4."

Taken directly from Georgetown University Library.