APA, IEEE & AMA citation styles

Citing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in APA Style

The American Psychological Association (APA) recommends that AI text generated be formatted as personal communication. It is only used as an in-text citation and is included in the reference list. 

In-Text Citation

(Communicator, Year)

Example: 

Parenthetical In-Text Citation : (OpenAI, 2023)

Narrative In-Text Citation : OpenAI (2023)

 

Reference:

Communicator. (Year). Source (version) [language model]. URL

Example: 

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT. (Nov. 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/auth/login

 

Citing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in MLA Style

The Modern Language Association (MLA) recommendations for citing generative AI are the following;

• cite a generative AI tool whenever you paraphrase, quote, or incorporate into your own work any content (whether text, image, data, or other) that was created by it 
• acknowledge all functional uses of the tool (like editing your prose or translating words) in a note, your text, or another suitable location 
• take care to vet the secondary sources it cites (click the link below for more details)

MLA template of core elements is meant to provide flexibility in citation. (Source: https://style.mla.org/citing-generative-ai/)

   MLA guide in citing AI 

MLA provides various examples using its template

Author

We do not recommend treating the AI tool as an author. This recommendation follows the policies developed by various publishers, including the MLA’s journal PMLA. 

Title of Source

Describe what was generated by the AI tool. This may involve including information about the prompt in the Title of Source element if you have not done so in the text. 

Title of Container

Use the Title of Container element to name the AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT).

Version

Name the version of the AI tool as specifically as possible. For example, the examples in this post were developed using ChatGPT 3.5, which assigns a specific date to the version, so the Version element shows this version date.

Publisher

Name the company that made the tool.

Date

Give the date the content was generated.

Location

Give the general URL for the tool.¹

Example 1: Paraphrasing Text

Passage in Source

Paraphrased in Your Prose

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-List Entry

“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.

(Source: https://style.mla.org/citing-generative-ai/)