Using AI tools in Research

From the MLA Style Center (MLA Handbook 9th Edition)

Building blocks

• Author: Do not treat the AI as an author; MLA is reserving that for human authors. Omit the author section of the citation.
• Title of source: Describe what was generated by the AI tool. If you have not included information about the prompt in the text of your essay, you need to do that here.
• Title of container: The name of the AI tool. 
• Version: Name the version of the AI tool as specifically as possible. 
• Date: Include the date the content was generated. 
• Location: Give the URL for the tool. If possible, give the URL for the specific content. (Note: the style guide post is slightly out of date; you can now send someone a URL of your ChatGPT conversation. This is the URL you should use in your citation.)

Format

"Prompt text" prompt. AI tool, version of tool, company that made the tool, date text was generated. URL. 

Examples

• In-text citation: ("Describe the symbolism")
• Bibliography: “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, https://chat.openai.com/share/dccb3610-1db9-4eed-88b1-cdb06f67982a.

Check out the MLA Style Guide for more information.

In Chicago, you'll cite generative AI differently depending on whether or not you included the prompt in the text of your paper. If you included it in your paper, you don't need to repeat it in the citation. 

Building blocks

• Author: Treat the AI as the author. If you're footnoting quoted text, say "Text generated by [the AI tool]."
• Date: Include the date the content was generated. 
• Publisher: Use the company that created the AI (e.g. OpenAI, Google)
• Location: Give the URL for the tool. If possible, give the URL for the specific content.

Format

Prompt already included in paper:

1. Text generated by [name of the AI tool], date, Company that made the tool, URL.

Prompt not yet included in paper: 

1. [Name of the AI tool], response to "prompt," date text was generated, Company that made the tool, URL.

Examples

• Prompt already included in paper: 1. Text generated by ChatGPT, March 7, 2023, OpenAI, https://chat.openai.com/share/dccb3610-1db9-4eed-88b1-cdb06f67982a.
• Prompt not yet included in paper: 1. ChatGPT, response to “Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients,” March 7, 2023, OpenAI, https://chat.openai.com/share/dccb3610-1db9-4eed-88b1-cdb06f67982a.

Check out the Chicago Style Guide for more information

If you're including an AI-generated image in the body of a paper, give it a figure number (i.e. Fig. 1, Fig. 2) 

Building blocks

• Figure number: This corresponds to the number of images you have in your paper. If this is the first image that shows up in your paper, you'd use "Fig. 1." If it's the third image, you'd use "Fig. 3", etc.
• Author: Do not treat the AI as an author; MLA is reserving that for human authors. Omit the author section of the citation.
• Title of work:  Use the full prompt, or the first several words of the prompt, in quotation marks, followed by the word "prompt."
• Title of container: The name of the AI tool. 
• Version: Name the version of the AI tool as specifically as possible. 
• Date: Include the date the content was generated. 
• Location: Give the URL for the tool. If possible, give the URL for the specific content.

Format

Fig. 1. "Full prompt" prompt, Name of Tool, version of tool, Company Name, date image was generated, URL.

Example

• Fig. 1. “Pointillist painting of a sheep in a sunny field of blue flowers” prompt, DALL-E, version 2, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, labs.openai.com/Links to an external site..

Check out the MLA Style Guide for more information

The Chicago Manual of Style's website recommends you cite AI-generated images like any other image, while including both the name of the AI tool that generated the image, the company that created the AI, and the prompt that generated the image.

Building blocks

• Title: Use the full prompt, or the first several words of the prompt, as the title.
• Creator: Use the phrase "image generated by," followed by the company that created the tool and the name of the tool. (e.g. Canva's Text to Image).
• Date: Give the date the image was generated.

Format

"Prompt," image generated by Company's AI Tool, date image was generated.

Example

• “A modern office rendered as a cubist painting,” image generated by OpenAI’s DALL·E 2, March 5, 2023.

Check out the Chicago Style Guide on images for more information