Citation Style Guide

• Always confirm with your professor whether AI tools like ChatGPT are allowed for each assignment
• Always verify information and sources generated by AI tools
  • AI has been known to generate false information and to cite non-existent sources
  • AI-generated text mines people's intellectual property without crediting them, which raises ethical concerns
• In styles without specific guidance, information generated from AI tools is cited as personal communication; as personal communication is unrecoverable, it is cited in the text only and is not included on the references list
  • Some of this guidance may be updated as recommendations evolve

Previously, APA viewed quotes from a ChatGPT chat session as akin to a personal communication. This approach was updated in 2025 due to the evolution of generative AI and increased retrievability of chats. 

In-text citations: Citing an AI chat

• In-text citation rule: (Al Company Name, year)
• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2025)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2025)

In-text citation example: When prompted with “What are some reasons to avoid generative ai for academic research?” Claude Sonnet 4.5 listed several points, including the tendency for generative AI models to create false citations (Anthropic, 2025).

Reference list: Citing an AI chat

AI Company Name. (year, month day). Title of chat in italics [Description, such as Generative AI chat]. Tool Name/Model. URL of the chat

Example:

Anthropic. (2025, December 11). Generative AI limitations in academic research [Generative AI chat]. Claude Sonnet 4.5. https://claude.ai/share/0c6f2224-8839-4150-80d3-c02194358cc0

In-text citations: Citing an AI tool in general

If it isn't appropriate to cite a specific chat, an AI tool may need to be cited (see the APA Style Blog for more details).

• In-text citation rule: (Al Company Name, year)
• Parenthetical citation: (Anthropic, 2025)
• Narrative citation: Anthropic (2025)

Reference list: Citing an AI tool in general

AI Company Name. (year). Tool Name/Model in Italics and Title Case [Description; e.g., Large language model]. URL of the tool

Example:

Anthropic. (2025). Claude 4.5 Sonnet [Large language model]. https://claude.ai/new

The Modern Language Association provides detailed guidance on citing generative AI according to their template.

The following two articles from the Chicago Style Q&A may be helpful to review:

• Question: How do you recommend citing content developed or generated by artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT? Many scholarly publishers are requiring its identification though also requiring human authors to take responsibility for it and will not permit the AI to have “authorship.”
• Question: How do you cite images generated by DALL·E?

University of Chicago Press generally recommends acknowledging the use of an AI tool in your text, but gives the following examples as format citations (examples drawn from "Citation, Documentation of Sources" on Chicago Style Q&A blog) :

Chicago Style with footnotes

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

If the prompt hasn't been included in the text, it can be included in the note:

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

Chicago Author-Date

Any information not included in the text is placed in the parenthetical reference. Example: 

• (ChatGPT, March 7, 2023)

In the absence of formal recommendations from the NLM Style Guide, students and researchers can cite as personal communication. The NLM Style Guide recommends that personal communications are only cited in the text, and are not included in the reference list. Generally, the Vancouver referencing style uses numbered in-text citations, but for personal communications the advice is as follows:

• provide information about the personal communication within the text
• Include the nature and source of the cited information
• indicate clearly that no corresponding citation is in the reference list (e.g. include the term 'unreferenced' or similar)

Example: In response to the question ..., OpenAI's ChatGPT gave the following response ... (2023 Feb 22, unreferenced).

The Council of Science Editors recommends treating AI-generated content as personal communication. Personal communication advice is as follows:

• Cite personal communication in-text only, NOT in the References section
• Include a description of the content that was created or edited and the name of the language model or tool, version and extension numbers, and manufacturer

Example: I wanted to see how it would respond to a prompt to "create a nonexistent dinosaur" (ChatGPT [OpenAI], response to question from author, 6 April 2023).

In addition to the MLA guidance on citing generative AI, the following guides and individuals were consulted when creating this guide: 

• University of Queensland guide on Citing ChatGPT and other generative AI tools
• RMIT guide on Artificial Intelligence - referencing guidelines
• University of Guelph-Humber citation guide on ChatGPT and other AI generative tools
• Council of Science Editors co-chairs