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Artificial Intelligence: Citing ChatGPT

Bluebook

The Bluebook has not yet issued rules or recommendations for citing generative AI.  Until they do, we recommend the following footnote format, based on Rule 18.2.  You can use the title ChatGPT gives to the chat or write your own descriptive title.

Author, Descriptive Title, Main Page Title (full date), URL.

Author, Chat Title, Main Page Title (full date), URL (explanatory parenthetical).

Elements:

  • Author: Provide the institutional author (e.g., OpenAI) (Rule 18.2.2(a)).
  • Title (choose one)
    • Chat title: Use the title ChatGPT gives to the chat, capitalizing in accordance with Rule 8.  Title should be italicized (Rule 18.2.2(b)(ii)).
    • Descriptive title: Write a descriptive title, capitalizing in accordance with Rule 8.  Do not italicize (Rule 18.2.2(b)(iv)).
  • Main page title: Homepage/domain name (e.g., ChatGPT).  Capitalize as it is shown on the website and use small caps (Rule 18.2.2(b)(i)).
  • Date: Include the date the text was generated (Rule 18.2.2(c)).
  • URL: Ideally, the URL should point directly to the cited source. We recommend using a tool like ShareGPT to create a direct URL. If this is not available, use the root URL of the site (Rule 18.2.2(d)).
  • Explanatory parenthetical (optional): If you do not include the full prompt in the title or in the main text of your paper, consider including it in an explanatory parenthetical (Rule 1.5(a)).

Examples:

Example 1:
Text:

"Jordyne Lewis, a fifteen-year-old, experienced stress due to the pandemic and actively sought help from the chatbot Woebot."1

Footnote:

1. OpenAI, Response to "Rewrite and Explain the Changes Including Any Change From Passive to Active Voice: There Was One Situation Where a Fifteen-Year-Old, Jordyne Lewis, Was Actually Stressed Due to the Pandemic and Utilized the Chatbot Woebot," ChatGPT (May 23, 2023), https://chat.openai.com/. 

 
Example 2:
Text:

When baking an evil chocolate cake, some ingredients may be difficult to track down, but it's possible to make due by substituting more standard ingredients.  For instance, instead of using your enemies' ground ashes, you can use regular all-purpose flour, and cocoa powder can stand in for powdered darkness.2

Footnote:

2. OpenAI, Evil Overlord's Diabolical Recipe, ChatGPT (May 16, 2023), https://chat.openai.com/ (responding to the prompt "Write the ultimate evil overlord recipe for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with evil ingredients and if you can't get those, human edible substitutions"). 

MLA

MLA uses a template of core elements, but leaves room for flexibility.  The examples below follow the MLA Style Center's recommended format for citing generative AI, but you can modify this if another format makes more sense to you.  Just be sure to include anything your reader needs to understand where you got your cited content, and stay consistent throughout your paper.

The MLA Template

  • Author: MLA does not recommend including an author.
  • Title of Source: Create a descriptive title about what the AI tool generated. Descriptive titles should use sentence case and may include quoted text (see MLA Handbook, 5.28 and 5.29).
  • Title of Container (italic): Typically used for journal and anthology titles.  In this case, use the name of the AI tool (ChatGPT)
  • Version: Check for the version date at the bottom of the ChatGPT site.
  • Publisher: Use the company that made the tool (for ChatGPT, this is OpenAI)
  • Date: The complete date that you generated the content, formatted with day first (e.g. 10 Feb. 2023)
  • Location: The main URL for the tool.  Do not use the direct link to your prompt, as it will not work for other users. However, you may optionally use a tool like ShareGPT to create a unique link and use that instead.

Examples:

MLA citations consist of an in-text parenthetical citation and a works-cited list entry.  In-text citations for MLA need just enough information to identify the source.  Usually, this is the author's name, but since these sources have no author, use the first word or few words from the title.

Example 1:
Text:

"Darcy, an academic studies co-author and the founder of Woebot, conducted further research on the effectiveness of Woebot for college students. As a professor at Stanford University, she observed a decrease in depression symptoms among college students and noted that Woebot proved helpful in addressing postpartum depression. Additionally, Darcy identified its potential in reducing substance abuse" ("Rewrite and explain").

 
Works-Cited List Entry:

"Rewrite and explain the changes" in a provided paragraph prompt. ChatGPT, 12 May version, OpenAI, 16 May 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

 

Example 2:
Text:

JoJo is a strange dog who shrieks like she's enraged while simultaneously wiggling and wagging her tail.  Despite her bad attitude, her vet loves her and once suggested that there should be a children's book about her, so I asked ChatGPT to write one.  In the story, JoJo meets up with her best friend, Sammy the squirrel, who asks if she wants to play. "JoJo's back end couldn't resist the invitation, and her tail wagged enthusiastically. But her grumpy front end just grumbled, 'I suppose so, but make it quick!'" ("JoJo's Happy-Tail Adventure").

 

Works-Cited List Entry:

"JoJo's Happy-Tail Adventure" children's book. ChatGPT, 12 May version, OpenAI, 23 May 2023, chat.openai.com/chat. 

Chicago Manual of Style

Basic Format

When citing a quoted or paraphrased ChatGPT response in a Chicago style footnote, include the following elements, separated by commas:

  • Author: ChatGPT
  • Title: the prompt you used (if not already included in the text)
  • Date: full date that the text was generated
  • Publisher/sponsor: OpenAI
  • URL (OPTIONAL): https://chat.openai.com/chat (the general URL of the tool)

 

Examples:

Example 1:
Text:

JoJo is a strange dog who shrieks like she's enraged while simultaneously wiggling and wagging her tail.  Despite her bad attitude, her vet loves her and once suggested that there should be a children's book about her, so I asked ChatGPT to write one.  In the story, JoJo meets up with her best friend, Sammy the squirrel, who asks if she wants to play. "JoJo's back end couldn't resist the invitation, and her tail wagged enthusiastically. But her grumpy front end just grumbled, 'I suppose so, but make it quick!'"1

Footnote:

1. ChatGPT, response to "Write a children's book about a female dog named JoJo whose front end is grumpy and back end is happy and silly," May 23, 2023, OpenAI.

 
Example 2:
Text:

"The perception of artificial intelligence can vary as individuals interpret its nature in diverse manners."2

Footnote:

2. ChatGPT, response to "rewrite this sentence: Artificial intelligence can be described in various ways as to how someone views what it is," May 23, 2023, OpenAI.

Short Form

If you cite the same ChatGPT response again, you can use a short form of the citation in the footnote, which includes only the author and a shortened version of the title (enough to distinguish it from other prompts mentioned in your paper).

 

Examples:

1. ChatGPT, "Write a children's book."

2. ChatGPT, "Artificial intelligence can be."

 

Bibliography

Do not include ChatGPT references in the Bibliography.  Because they have no publicly-accessible direct URL, they should be treated more like a personal communication (e.g., letter, email, etc.).

APA

The APA recommends using the citation format for software (from Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual) for ChatGPT and other generative AI.  APA formatting uses in-text citations along with a reference list.

Note: The "year" in software citations is the year the software version was released, not the year you used it.  

 

In-Text Citations

The APA citation format for ChatGPT does not include the prompt you used.  Instead, include the prompt in your text as well as the quote or paraphrase of any relevant portion of the generated response.  Format in-text citations as a parenthetical that includes the author of the software and the release year for the ChatGPT the version you used. 

If you are not quoting the full response in your text, you may want to include an appendix or supplement to your paper with the full transcript, as ChatGPT generates new responses each time a prompt is used, so readers will likely be unable to replicate your results using your prompt.  If you choose to do this, make a note in your citation.

 

Examples:

Without attached transcript:

"The perception of artificial intelligence can vary as individuals interpret its nature in diverse manners" (response to prompt "rewrite this sentence: Artificial intelligence can be described in various ways as to how someone views what it is"; OpenAI, 2023). 

 

With attached transcript:

In response to the prompt "Write the ultimate evil overlord recipe for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with evil ingredients and if you can't get those, human edible substitutions," the ChatGPT-generated text offered "a recipe that will leave your taste buds trembling and your guests begging for mercy," including ingredients such as "the tears of your defeated foes" and "the essence of treachery" (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Reference List

The entry for ChatGPT in your reference list is for the software, rather than the response to your specific response, so you only need to list it once, even if you mention multiple prompts.  Software entries in the reference list should include the following elements:

  • Author
  • Year (in parentheses)
  • Software title (italic)
  • Version (in parentheses)
  • Type of software/source (in brackets)
  • Source/URL

Note: You can find the ChatGPT version at the bottom of the page, underneath the chat input box.

 

Example:

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (May 12 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat.