The three major style guides have each published advice on citing generative AI, and they disagree in useful ways. APA treats the AI model as software made by a company. MLA treats your prompt as the title of the source. Chicago says to cite it in a note but leave it out of the bibliography. The formats below follow that published guidance; if your instructor gives you a different format, theirs wins.
Before you cite: check your AI policy
A citation answers the question “where did this come from?” It does not answer “was I allowed to use it?” Institutions, departments and even individual assignments set different rules. Some ban generative AI entirely, some allow it for brainstorming but not drafting, and some allow it with disclosure.
Two practical tips before you start: note the date you used the tool, and save the conversation (or a shareable link, if your tool offers one). AI responses are not reproducible, so a reader cannot simply run your prompt again and get the same text.
How to cite ChatGPT in APA 7
The APA Style blog’s guidance on citing ChatGPT treats the model as software. The author is the company, OpenAI. The title is the model name in italics, followed by the version in parentheses and the description [Large language model] in square brackets.
Format
OpenAI. (Year). ChatGPT (Version) [Large language model]. URL
Example
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
This is the form of the example APA published. Use the year and version of the model you actually used; the version is usually shown in the model picker or the release notes.
In-text citation
- Parenthetical: (OpenAI, 2023)
- Narrative: OpenAI’s ChatGPT (2023) generated…
Describe the prompt in your text
APA recommends telling the reader what you asked. For example: When asked to summarize the main causes of the French Revolution, ChatGPT listed fiscal crisis first… (OpenAI, 2023). For longer exchanges, put the full prompt and response in an appendix and refer to it.
How to cite ChatGPT in MLA 9
The MLA Style Center’s guidance on generative AI does not treat the AI tool as an author. Instead, the Works Cited entry starts with a description of what the tool produced, usually your prompt, followed by the word “prompt”.
Format
“Text of your prompt” prompt. Name of AI Tool, version, Company, Day Month Year, URL.
Example
“Summarize the main causes of the French Revolution in three paragraphs” prompt. ChatGPT, GPT-4o version, OpenAI, 8 Apr. 2024, chat.openai.com/chat.
The date is the date the content was generated, not the release date of the model. If your prompt names a book or film, keep its title in italics inside the quotation marks.
In-text citation
Use a shortened version of the prompt in quotation marks:
- (“Summarize the main causes”)
If you paraphrase the response rather than quote it, you still cite it. If you quote it, use quotation marks as you would for any other source.
How to cite ChatGPT in Chicago
The Chicago Manual of Style advises you to cite AI-generated text in a note or in the running text, and generally not to include it in the bibliography or reference list, because a reader cannot go and retrieve the same conversation.
Footnote when the prompt is in your sentence
1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, April 8, 2024, https://chat.openai.com/chat.
Footnote when it is not
1. ChatGPT, response to “Summarize the main causes of the French Revolution in three paragraphs,” OpenAI, April 8, 2024.
Author-date
In Chicago’s author-date system, put the same information in a parenthetical citation in the text, for example (ChatGPT, OpenAI, April 8, 2024), and leave it out of the reference list.
If you edited the AI output before using it, say so in the note, for example “edited for style and content.” Chicago’s 18th edition (2024) keeps this approach.
How to cite Claude, Gemini, Copilot and other AI tools
The same patterns work for any generative AI tool. Swap in the tool name, the company that makes it, the version and the URL where you used it.
| Tool | APA author | Title (in italics) |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | OpenAI | ChatGPT |
| Claude | Anthropic | Claude |
| Gemini | Gemini | |
| Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft | Copilot |
For an AI image, use the same author and title logic, but describe the output as an image. For AI features built into other software, such as a writing assistant inside a word processor, name the feature and the company that makes it.
Citing vs. disclosing: they are not the same
You cite AI when you quote or paraphrase what it produced. You disclose AI when it helped with your process, even if none of its words appear in your work: brainstorming topics, outlining, suggesting sources or tightening your sentences.
Many courses and journals now ask for a short disclosure statement. A typical one covers:
- Which tool you used, and when.
- What you used it for (for example, “to suggest an outline, which I then rewrote”).
- What you changed, checked or rejected.
A disclosure does not need a formal citation unless you also include AI-generated text. When in doubt, disclose. It is much easier to explain a note in your paper than an unexplained result from an AI detector.
Common mistakes when citing AI
Citing ChatGPT for facts
AI tools can produce confident statements that are wrong, and they sometimes invent sources that do not exist. If ChatGPT gives you a fact or a reference, find the original source, read it, and cite that instead. Cite the AI only for what the AI itself produced.
Listing ChatGPT as the author
None of the three styles do this. APA uses the company, MLA starts with the prompt, and Chicago names the tool in the note.
Forgetting the date
Models change constantly. The version and the date you used it are what let a reader understand which system produced the text.
Pasting output without quotation marks
A citation at the end of a paragraph does not cover sentences copied word for word. Quote AI output exactly like any other source, or rewrite it genuinely in your own words.
Formatting other sources by hand
For the books, articles and websites in the rest of your reference list, the citation generator in the Plagiarism Checker Plus web app fills in details from a URL, DOI or ISBN in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 17 and nine other styles, free with an account. AI citations are simple enough to write by hand using the formats above.