Generative AI

Citing generative AI

Generative AI tools are impacting higher education. Universities and professors are concerned about how generative AI will continue to affect academic integrity. Plagiarism and academic dishonesty have existed for ages. Generative AI does not change that plagiarism has existed and continues to exist. However, generative AI can facilitate academic fraud--intentional or not--in ways no tool has before.

For any given course, instructors and students need to have a mutual understanding of whether generative AI tools are permitted, what for, how their use should be disclosed, and so on.

Organizations responsible for style guides, such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and Modern Language Association (MLA) have developed initial guidelines for the use and citation of generative AI tools. Examples of these guidelines for APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition, and Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition are presented below.

Guidelines notwithstanding, it is important to note that generative AI tools are not scholarly sources. They should not be used when a scholarly source is more appropriate. It is important to consider why you are citing these tools in your work. 

APA 7th edition

The APA Style Blog distinguishes between:

  • using generative AI to write your paper and
  • quoting text created by generative AI in your paper.

The citation guidance below applies to the second situation, quoting text generated by AI. The APA Style team is currently developing guidelines to address authorship, plagiarism, and other issues related to using generative AI for the creation of papers.

The APA Style team's advice is to describe how generative AI was used in an appropriate section of your paper. If it was used for research, describe the extent to which it was used in the methods section. If it was used to generate a piece of writing, describe this in the introduction.

According to the APA Style team, although generative AI text resembles personal communication, in that it is unique and not retrievable by your reader, a generative AI tool is not a person. Therefore, APA Style recommends crediting the generative AI tool's creator as author.

Example in-text citation

(Microsoft, 2023)

Example reference

Microsoft. (2023). Bing Chat (Enterprise version) [Chatbot]. https://www.bing.com/search?q=Bing+AI&showconv=1

MLA 9th edition

The MLA Style Center encourages:

  • citing a generative AI tool when any content created by it is integrated in your work
  • making clear in your paper the extent to which generative AI was used
  • verifying sources cited by generative AI tools and, when appropriate, citing those sources rather than the AI as an indirect source

When citing generative AI, MLA Style Center's guidance includes the following:

  • Cite the tool as the Title of Container, not as the Author
  • Provide detail on the Version of the tool
  • Use abbreviated information from the prompt as the Title of Source
  • Cite the company that makes the tool as the Publisher
  • Include the Date that the prompt was used
  • Include the tool's URL for the Location

Example in-text citation

("Why is texting")

Example reference

"Why is texting while driving dangerous?" prompt. HuggingChat, meta-llama/Llama-2-70b-chat-hf version, HuggingFace, 26 Oct. 2023, huggingface.co/chat.

Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition

The Chicago Manual of Style Online offers the following guidance:

In some cases, it may suffice to acknowledge the tool in the body of your text. For example, "HuggingChat answered the following when asked why texting and driving is dangerous." However, for academic work, whether it's a paper for class or a journal article destined for publication, a more formal citation is warranted.

The generative AI tool is used as the author. The company that created the tool is used as the publisher or sponsor. Include the date that the response was generated. The general URL for the tool is optional.

Include the generative AI response in your bibliography or reference list only if you have a publicly available URL to that response. Otherwise, do not include generative AI responses in your bibliography or reference list.

Example note (if the prompt is provided in the text, with optional general URL):

1. Text generated by HuggingChat, HuggingFace, October 26, 2023, https://huggingface.co/chat.

Example note (if the prompt is not provided in the text):

1. HuggingChat, response to "Why is texting while driving dangerous?," HuggingFace, October 26, 2023.

Example author-date citation:

(HuggingChat, October 26, 2023)

Example reference:

HuggingChat. Response to "Why is texting and driving dangerous?" HuggingFace. October 26, 2023. https://hf.co/chat/r/2WkuoMy

References

McAdoo, T. (2023, April 7). How to cite ChatGPT. APA Style Blog. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt

Modern Language Association of America. (2023, March 17). How do I cite generative AI in MLA style? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/citing-generative-ai/

University of Chicago. (n.d.). Citation, Documentation of Sources. Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Documentation/faq0422.html