Introduction

Understanding how to cite AI can be difficult for all of us, let alone students. Since some of you may require students to cite their use of AI in your course, it is important that you teach students and guide them on how to cite. Last spring, we asked ChatGPT if and how it would like to be cited. Using the prompt, “When using something you write, how would you like to be cited?" it gave us the following response:

As an AI language model, I don't require or expect any citation for my responses. However, if you are using information from me or my responses in a formal context or publication, it's important to follow the citation guidelines appropriate for your field or publication.

In general, you can cite me as "ChatGPT, an AI language model trained by OpenAI," and include the date of access and the URL of the page where you obtained the information. For example:

ChatGPT. "When using something you write, how would you like to be cited?" Retrieved February 21, 2023, from [insert URL].

Please note that citation guidelines may vary depending on the citation style you are using (e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago), so it's important to check the specific guidelines for your context.

Now that there are more tools out there, how should we have them cite? That may depend on who you are, and what you teach.

Fundamental Ideas on Citing

In reviewing and learning more about citing AI bots, I ran across this Libguide on Citation and Attribution with AI tools by Brown University. They shared some great fundamental ideas for citing AI content (no matter the citation style) that I wanted to share below.

- Do cite or acknowledge the outputs of generative AI tools when you use them in your work. This includes direct quotations and paraphrasing, as well as using the tool for tasks like editing, translating, idea generation, and data processing.
- Do not use sources that are cited by AI tools without reading those sources yourself. There are two different reasons for this:
  - Generative AI tools can create fake citations.
  - These tools may cite a real piece of writing, but the cited content may be inaccurate.
- Be flexible in your approach to citing AI-generated content, because emerging guidelines will always lag behind the current state of technology, and the way that technology is applied. If you are unsure of how to cite something, include a note in your text that describes how you used a certain tool.
- When in doubt, remember that we cite sources for two primary purposes: first, to give credit to the author or creator; and second, to help others locate the sources you used in your research. Use these two concepts to help make decisions about using and citing AI-generated content.

Citing With Specific Styles

For more guidance, check out the guidance using the specific styles: