The process of citing material generated by AI is continually evolving as the technology develops. When in doubt, consult your instructor or the official style manual to ensure accuracy.
On September 9, 2025 the American Psychological Association (APA) published new information about citing AI in their APA Style Blog.
APA style template for citing a specific AI chat:
AI Company Name. (year, month day). Title of chat in italics [Description, such as Generative AI chat]. Tool Name/Model. URL of the chat
Examples:
Anthropic. (2025, May 20). Essential grammar topics for high school graduates [Generative AI chat]. Claude Sonnet 4. https://claude.ai/share/329173b2-ec93-4663-ac68-4f65ea4f166d
Google. (2025, May 22). High school grammar concepts overview [Generative AI chat]. Gemini 2.5 Flash. https://g.co/gemini/share/a1306ce12929
OpenAI. (2025, August 21). High school grammar concepts [Generative AI chat]. ChatGPT. https://chatgpt.com/share/68a77b60-0ee4-800c-9acc-cd3fd573c311
Perplexity AI. (2025, May 20). High school grammar topics [Generative AI chat]. Perplexity. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/a457cb8c-c663-4c9b-b34e-cb03d8108b35
APA style template for citing an AI tool generally:
AI Company Name. (year). Tool Name/Model in Italics and Title Case [Description; e.g., Large language model]. URL of the tool
Examples:
Anthropic. (2025). Claude 4 Sonnet [Large language model]. https://claude.ai/new
Google. (2025). Gemini 2.5 Flash [Large language model]. https://gemini.google.com
OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/
Perplexity AI. (2025). Perplexity [Large language model]. https://www.perplexity.ai/
For information about documenting AI prompts, see the APA Style Blog post Citing generative AI in APA Style: Part 1--Reference formats.
On August 13, 2025, the Modern Language Association (MLA) published new guidance about citing AI in the MLA Style Center.
MLA Template:
Author
We do not recommend treating the AI tool as an author. This recommendation follows the policies developed by various publishers, including the MLA’s journal PMLA.
Title of Source
Describe what was generated by the AI tool. This may involve including information about the prompt in the Title of Source element if you have not done so in the text.
Title of Container
Use the Title of Container element to name the AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT).
Version
Name the specific AI model or model version as specifically as possible. For instance, the examples in this post were developed using the GPT-4o model of ChatGPT.
Publisher
Name the company that made the tool.
Date
Give the date the content was generated.
Location
Give the stable, shareable URL for accessing the generated content (e.g., text, an image, etc.). For example, tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E allow you to share a link by clicking the Share link at the top of the chat conversation. If the tool you are using doesn’t provide a stable, shareable URL, provide the general URL for the tool.
Example
"Describe the theme of nature in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park” prompt. ChatGPT, model GPT-4o, OpenAI, 23 Sept. 2024, chatgpt.com/share/66f1b0a0-d704-8000-be9a-85f53c850607.
For more information, including examples for citing images created by generative AI, see MLA's guidance "How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?".
