Citing AI

Before you cite:

  • Confirm with your instructor that the use of GenAI tools, such as ChatGPT, are allowed for your assignment.
  • Critical thinking skills are essential when you are using GenAI tools for research purposes.
  • Consider that using incorrect information from a GenAI tool can impact your findings and therefore your grade. 
  • Just because you are permitted to use and cite content from a GenAI tool doesn't mean you always should. 
  • Academic research requires you to use reliable, verifiable sources.
    • GenAI "generates" responses, word by word. It is predictive. It does not bring you to a list of potential resources like Google, where you can choose the most reliable information. 
    • GenAI tools can generate false information and cite non-existent sources.
  • Determine the appropriate citation style used in your program.
  • Always check the citation style guide for updates on citing GenAI generated content.

APA Style

APA classifies GenAI generated or edited content as "software". If you're using ChatGPT or other GenAI tools for coursework, be sure to include a description of how you used AI within your work. For example, you can describe in your introduction how you used ChatGPT to generate an outline for your presentation or that it was used to edit your final draft.When citing GenAI-generated text, remember to include both in-text and references list citations.

For more information, see APA Style's How to cite ChatGPT.

If you are permitted to use GenAI for research and you do not cite it as a source, then you have committed plagiarism. GenAI responses are considered sources and should be cited just like any other type of source such as content from a book, website or article. 

Reference List

Developer. (Version Year). Name of generative AI tool (Version number) [Type of AI Model]. URL of tool

Example: OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 23 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com

In-Text Citation (Quote or Paraphrase)

Remember to include the prompt you used whenever you quote or paraphrase text generated by an AI tool. Since your reader can't access the exact GenAI-generated text, you may also consider including a copy of the text as an appendix or as part of supplemental materials. If you are including a copy of the generated text, you may refer to it in the body of your text, or as part of the in-text citation such as in the example below.

Example:

Given the prompt "What are large language models?" the text generated by ChatGPT described them as "artificial intelligence systems that have been trained on vast amounts of text data, with the goal of understanding natural language and generating human-like responses to text-based inputs" (OpenAI, 2023).

When provided with a follow up prompt of "What are examples of large language models?" ChatGPT identified OpenAI's GPT-3, NVIDIA's Megatron, and Google's LaMDA as some of the examples of large language models (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

This citation guide is based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). The contents are accurate to the best of our knowledge. Some examples illustrate Seneca Libraries' recommendations and are marked as modifications of the official APA guidelines.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is used/adapted with the permission of Seneca Libraries. For information please contact citation@senecacollege.ca. When copying this guide, please retain this box.

MLA

For more information, see MLA Style Centre's How do I cite generative AI in MLA style? Revised. 

IEEE

For more information, see IEEES statement on Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Generated Text.

AI use should be acknowledged and identified. 

Chicago

For more information, see The Chicago Manual of Style Online's How do you recommend citing content developed or generated by artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT?

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