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AI and Information Literacy: Cite Correctly

Learn about the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and information literacy.

Introduction

If you're using AI to generate text or images, you should acknowledge that in your citations, just like you would for a human author, artist, or photographer. If using AI is allowed on an assignment your professor gives you, each time you include something AI-generated, you have to cite it. (Always double check with your instructor if you are not sure if it's okay to use AI in your assignments.)

Several citation guides have released official or semi-official guidance on how to cite AI-generated content. You can cite AI in your work using the guidelines below!

If you are planning to submit your manuscript for publication, be aware of publisher AI policies regarding authorship, attribution, and content generation. Purdue University Libraries has put together a useful summation of journal publisher AI guidelines here. 

Why do we cite?

Citations and their formatting might seem tedious, but they're an important part of providing reliable information to an audience. Writers receive credibility from sourcing the claims they make. Readers need to be able to fact-check a writer's sources and trace where the claims in a piece come from. 

Citing ChatGPT and other AI-text generators

If you are using AI to help with a draft or outline, you'll want to acknowledge this with a sentence at the beginning or end of the paper that says something like, "This paper was produced with drafting support from ChatGPT." Your instructor might have specific conventions for how they would like to list this as well, so it is always best practice to check with them!

If you are citing a conversation with an AI tool, either as a source or as an object of study, explore each section below to learn how to cite AI text generators in APA and AMA citation styles.

Building blocks

  • Author: Use the creator of the AI as the author (e.g. OpenAI, Google, etc.)

  • Date: Include the date the content was generated. 

  • Title: Use the name of the AI tool (e.g. ChatGPT, Bard)

  • Version: Name the version of the AI tool as specifically as possible. 

  • Description: In brackets, clarify that this is a large language model, or another specific type of generative AI.

  • Location: Give the URL for the tool. If possible, give the URL for the specific content. (Note: the style guide post is slightly out of date; you can now send someone a URL of your ChatGPT conversation. This is the URL you should use in your citation.)

Format

Company that made the tool (date text was generated). AI tool (version of tool) [Large language model]. URL. 

Examples

  • In-text citation: (OpenAI, 2023)

  • Bibliography: OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/share/dccb3610-1db9-4eed-88b1-cdb06f67982a

Learn more from the APA Style Guide. 

AMA does not recommend citing AI software such as ChatGPT as the creator/author of any material, as software does not qualify for "authorship" (it is not human and does not possess independent thought).

If you use AI software to generate content that is included in an assignment, in text you should explain that you have used a particular software tool to do so, and provide a citation for the software:

Software Name. Version no. Publisher; Year. Accessed Date. URL

For example:

ChatGPT1 was used to generate patient information sheets, which were then checked for quality and corrected as necessary.

1. ChatGPT. Version Mar 14. OpenAI; 2023. Accessed March 28, 2023. https://openai.com/

Source: James Cook University

Citing AI-generated images

If you're referencing or including an AI-generated image in your papers, you should include information about how it was generated. This is also required for human-created artwork and some human-created photographs. In most citation styles, you don't need to include this in the list of references, only as a caption for the image.

There is not official guidance from the APA OR AMA on citing AI-generated images. Based on existing recommendations for citing human generated images, here is an example: 

By Microsoft Copilot Designer, 2024 (https://www.bing.com/images/create).

Image generated using the prompt "Health Sciences and Human services Library at University of Maryland, Baltimore."