Library Research Guides: Citing Sources: Citing Generative AI

On This Guide

Wellesley College Research & Instruction Staff

Contact:

askus@wellesley.edu

781-283-2166

General Principles

When should you cite?
Elements to save when using ChatGPT or other AI tools
Sources cited by AI

When should you cite?

While generative AI tools are relatively new, the reasons we cite (to give credit for ideas you present and allow readers to understand the process and sources you consulted in your work) remain the same. Accordingly, you should cite when an AI tool was used to:

Gather information
Write text
Edit text
Synthesize ideas or find connections
Clean/manipulate data

Elements to save when using ChatGPT or other AI tools

Regardless of the citation style or system of references you are using, you will need:

Tool name and version (e.g., ChatGPT 4.0)
Time and date of usage
Prompt or query
Output from generative AI tool (as a document, image, or webpage, if the tool does not allow for stable links)
Follow up queries and responses
Name of person who queried

Generative AI tools can provide different outputs in response to identical same prompts, so documenting your use of these tools is essential for you to cite them transparently and for later readers to understand your use of the tool.

Saving AI Content for Replication and Citations [MIT Libraries] - Tips for how to document generative AI interactions.

Sources Cited by Generative AI

The nature of large language models (LLM) behind many generative AI products leads the tools to fabricate (or hallucinate) facts, such as sources that may not exist.

These citations may even seem to be highly plausible, using the names of real authors or journal titles in a given field.
Even tools that provide direct links to sources (such as those that are connected to some form of internet search) may misrepresent the content of the materials they cite.
Always check a source yourself to make it less likely you end up using false or misleading information.

It would also be a good idea to cite reputable sources in your work, in addition to attributing your use of generative AI. In this way you can give direct credit to authors and institutions instead of AI tools that are trained on this human-generated information.

Citing Generative AI in APA

How to cite ChatGPT [APA Style Blog]

APA recommends that you credit the AI tool as an author in a reference list, as:

"the results of a ChatGPT 'chat' are not retrievable by other readers,
and although non-retrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications, with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating.
Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is, therefore, more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation" [Quoted from APA Style Blog above, last updated Feb 23, 2024.]

APA's position can be extended to output from other generative AI tools. APA uses the Software reference list format to cite material created by generative AI.

EXAMPLE:

In-Text Citation

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

Reference Format

Author. (YYYY). Name of software (Date version) [Type of AI model]. URL

Reference

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

Guidelines for Acknowledging AI Use:

FOR RESEARCH METHODS: "Describe how you used the tool in your Method section."
FOR LITERATURE REVIEWS or ESSAYS: "Describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response."
FOR REFERENCES: "Credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation"

Citing Generative AI in Chicago

How do you recommend citing content developed or generated by artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT? [Chicago Style Q&A]

Chicago recommends that you credit the AI tool as an author:

"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." [Quoted from Chicago Style Q&A above]

Chicago uses the Personal correspondence reference list format to cite material created by generative AI (see CMOS 14.214 and 15.53).

EXAMPLE

In-Text Citation

According to Chicago's linked Q&A, for most types of writing, "you can simply acknowledge the AI tool in your text", e.g.:

The following recipe for pizza dough was generated by ChatGPT:

2 cups flour
1 package active dry yeast
...

Reference Format

For student papers or other situations that require more formal citation, Chicago recommends the following format:

Name of AI Tool, Company that created AI tool, Date Content was generated, URL (to tool if no direct public link to content is available).

Reference

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

or (if text of prompt is not included in the body of the text):

1. ChatGPT, response to “Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients,” OpenAI, March 7, 2023.

Citing Generative AI in MLA

How do I cite generative AI in MLA style? [MLA Style Center]

MLA recommends that you do not credit the AI tool as an author when citing content created by a generative AI tool:

"We do not recommend treating the AI tool as an author. This recommendation follows the policies developed by various publishers, including the MLA’s journal PMLA." [Quoted from MLA Style Center above, published 17 March 2023.]

Some worked examples included in the linked guide are:

Example 1: Paraphrasing Text
Example 2: Quoting Text
Example 3: Citing Creative Visual Works
Example 4: Quoting Creative Textual Works
Example 5: Citing Secondary Sources Used by an AI Tool

EXAMPLE : Paraphrasing Text

Paraphrased in Your Prose

While the green light in The Great Gatsby might be said to chiefly symbolize four main things: optimism, the unattainability of the American dream, greed, and covetousness (“Describe the symbolism”), arguably the most important—the one that ties all four themes together—is greed.

Works-Cited-List Entry Format

"Title of Source". Title of AI tool, Version of AI tool, Company that created AI tool, Date content was generated, URL.

Works-Cited-List Entry

“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.

Guidelines for Acknowledging AI Use:

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.