Citations: AI Citations

AI and your course assignments

• 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
• Content from AI tools like ChatGPT is usually nonrecoverable, so it cannot be retrieved or linked in your citation and should be cited as personal communication
• Personal communication receives an in-text citation but does not appear on the list of references
• Some of this guidance may be updated as recommendations evolve

APA style

Currently, APA recommends that text generated from AI be formatted as "Personal Communication." As such, it receives an in-text citation but not an entry on the References list.

Rule: (Communicator, personal communication, Month Date, Year)

Examples: 

(OpenAI, personal communication, January 16, 2023).

When asked to explain psychology's main schools of thought, OpenAI's ChatGPT's response included ... (personal communication, February 22, 2023).

Chicago style

Chicago Style with footnotes

Personal communications are cited in a footnote, but are not listed in the bibliography.

Rule: ^Number.Originator of the communication, medium, Day Month, Year.

Example: ¹ OpenAI's ChatGPT AI language model, response to question from author, 7 February, 2023.   

Shortened note rule: ^NumberCorrespondent's last name, medium

Example: ¹ ChatGPT, response to prompt from author

MLA style

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

In-Text Citation Example: While the green light in The Great Gatsby might be said to chiefly symbolize four main things: optimism, the unattainability of the American dream, greed, and covetousness (“Describe the symbolism”), arguably the most important—the one that ties all four themes together—is greed.

Works Cited Example: “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.

This content comes from the Dalhousie University Citation Style Guide (https://dal.ca.libguides.com/CitationStyleGuide/citing-ai) created by Lindsay McNiff and her fellow Dalhousie librarians. Used with permission.