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Arkansas State University

Citation Style Guide : AI and Citations

Basic introduction into AMA, APA, Chicago, MLA and Turabian citation styles.

Artificial Intelligence and Citations

Recently, a new form of artificial intelligence (AI), called generative AI, has been developed. Generative AI can take raw data and make something new out of it. The most famous examples of generative AI are ChatGPT for text-based applications and Dall-E for image-based applications. When used as a tool, AI can be amazing. However, AI-generated work is NOT your work. In some cases, AI-generated materials can actually lead to plagiarism (see more).

To help protect yourself, always make sure to note when you're using AI-generated work, including if you're paraphrasing it. Below are the current recommended citations for AI-generated works.

APA Citation

APA treats AI-generated works the same way that it treats personal communications and cites them as so. This is because AI-generated works cannot be replicated by another person.

In-text

Author of Al Program, Year of version used

Example: (OpenAI, 2023)

Reference list

Author of AI Program. (Date). AI tool (version) [Large language model]. URL

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


See more at the APA website.
 

MLA Citation

Reference list

"Description of prompt used," prompt, AI tool, version, date created, URL.

Examples:

  • “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.

  • “Pointillist painting of a sheep in a sunny field of blue flowers” prompt, DALL-E, version 2, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, labs.openai.com/.


See more examples and learn more at the MLA website.
 

Chicago Citation

Chicago does not require you to cite AI-generated works as long as you acknowledge them in your paper (e.g. "The following song was generated by ChatGPT"). However, there are some guidelines if your professor does require citations:

Note

If prompt used is included in text of the paper: Text generated by AI Program Name, Author of AI Program, Month Day, Year, URL.

If the prompt used is not included in the text of the paper:  Text generated by AI Program Name, response to "prompt," Author of AI Program, Month Day, Year, URL.

Examples

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

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

See more at the Chicago website.