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Artificial Intelligence : Citing AI & Plagiarism

Interested in AI? This guide is for you! Direct any questions to the UM Library's Artificial Intelligence Committee.

Citing AI Use

Students should use, and cite, AI according to the syllabus, assignment description, or other communication from each of their instructors. Instructor requirements may vary class to class, so be sure to check with your instructor prior to using AI, or submitting an assignment that used AI.

At minimum, disclosing AI use is generally a good idea to prevent confusion. Citation styles have slightly different formatting requirements. 

APA consider generative AI tools as software/algorithms, and requires giving attribution to the company that developed the tool/software/algorithm.

In the case of ChatGPT, an end-of-text citation might look like:

OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (Aug 28, version 4.0) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

Breaking down the citation:

  • OpenAI - company that created ChatGPT
  • 2024 - year accessed
  • ChatGPT - name of tool
  • Aug. 28, version 4.0 - indicates date that the specific version was used
  • large language model - description of the tool
  • https://chat.openai.com/chat - URL where the tool was accessed

For in-text citations, you would use:

(OpenAI, 2024) if not mentioning the company name in the text. If the company name is mentioned, use (2024) as your citation.

MLA does not consider the generative AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT) the author.

MLA 9th Edition provides the following syntax for textual AI outputs included in the Works Cited section:

"Description of prompt" prompt. Name of AI tool, version of AI tool, Company, date text generated. URL.

Works Cited example:

"Is peanut butter and jelly the best sandwich?" prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 20 Aug. 2023. chat.openai.com/chat

Breakdown of citation:

  • "Is peanut butter and jelly the best sandwich?" - This is the specific prompt used. For longer prompts, a brief description may be used instead of the entire prompt
  • prompt - description of what preceded; required
  • ChatGPT - tool being used to generate output
  • 13 Feb. version - version of tool used
  • OpenAI - company that created tool
  • 20 Aug. 2023 - date tool used
  • chat.openai.com/chat - URL for tool

In-text citation

For an in-text citation, you would use the first few words of the prompt. For example:

When prompted, ChatGPT offered several arguments why peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the best, including ... ("Is peanut butter")

The Chicago citation style requires acknowledge when AI tools are used.

Formal citation at end of writing

Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, August 20, 2024, https://chat.openai.com/chat

Breakdown of end-of-text citation

  • Text generated by ChatGPT - standard template; replace ChatGPT with name of specific tool used
  • OpenAI - name of company that developed ChatGPT; replace with creator of specific tool used
  • August 20, 2024 - date tool used
  • https://chat.openai.com/chat - URL where tool accessed

In-text acknowledgement

The following list was created by ChatGPT...

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the "practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own." - Oxford Languages

Using generative AI can complicate this definition, depending on how you are using it. If you ask a tool to answer your essay prompt, and then copy the text into your paper, then you are plagiarizing. If, instead, you write your own draft and use AI to help you edit, then you may not be plagiarizing (opinions vary), but your instructor may still want you to disclose the use of AI.

Still have questions? 

Reach out to the UM Library AI Committee, who will be happy to assist.