How to Cite ChatGPT and Other AI Tools (APA, MLA, Chicago)

Cite an AI tool whenever you quote, paraphrase or build on its output. APA treats the company as the author, MLA describes the prompt and names the tool, and Chicago prefers a note over a bibliography entry. Citing is not always enough: your school or journal may also require a written disclosure, so read its AI policy before you submit.

How do you cite ChatGPT in an essay?

Give the tool a reference in the style your course requires, and say in your text what you asked it. The three big styles handle it differently, so here is the short version before the details. Every example below uses an invented prompt and an invented date.

If your instructor names a different style, or has an AI policy of their own, that policy wins over this page.

Why AI output needs a citation at all

An AI tool is not a source you can send a reader back to. The same prompt can give a different answer tomorrow, and the reader usually cannot open your conversation. Style guides still ask you to cite because the words or ideas did not come from you, and passing them off as your own work counts as misrepresentation in most schools. See is using AI plagiarism? for how institutions tend to treat it.

Two further points shape every template:

1. Tools make things up. They can state invented facts, invented quotations and invented references with confidence. Never cite a fact "according to ChatGPT" when a real, checkable source exists. Find that source, read it, and cite it instead.
2. The citation records your use, not the truth of the claim. Citing the chatbot tells the reader where the wording came from. It does not make the statement reliable.

APA 7: company as author

The American Psychological Association published its guidance on citing ChatGPT on the APA Style blog in 2023, and it treats the developer as the author because the model itself cannot be one. The page is How to cite ChatGPT. APA updates its advice as tools change, so open the page on the day you write and compare it with the template below (the template reflects the guidance as read on 2026-11-01).

Reference list template

OpenAI. (Year). ChatGPT (Month day version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

Worked example

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

In-text forms

• Parenthetical: (OpenAI, 2025)
• Narrative: OpenAI (2025) generated a list of...

APA's advice on the prompt is worth copying even when your instructor does not ask for it. Describe what you asked in the sentence that introduces the output, and, for longer outputs, consider putting the full prompt and response in an appendix so the reader can see exactly what you saw. APA also reminds writers that the reader cannot retrieve the conversation, so the appendix is the nearest thing to a recoverable record.

Other tools. For Claude, Gemini, Copilot or any other chatbot, keep the same pattern and swap in the developer's name, the tool name, the version or date you used, and the tool's URL. For the shape of a general reference entry see the APA 7 citation guide.

MLA 9: describe the prompt, name the tool

The Modern Language Association gives its advice on its style site, Citing generative AI. The page was last updated in August 2025, so check it for changes before you submit. MLA does not list the tool as an author. The prompt becomes the title of the source.

Works cited template

"Description of the prompt" prompt. Tool name, version, developer, date generated, general URL.

Worked example

"Summarize the main arguments for school uniforms in three sentences" prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2025, chat.openai.com/chat.

In-text form. Use a shortened version of the prompt description in parentheses: ("Summarize the main arguments"). The shortened text must match the start of the works cited entry so the reader can find it.

MLA adds several practical rules:

• Cite when you quote, paraphrase or incorporate generated content.
• Functional uses such as editing or translation can be acknowledged in a note, in your text or in another suitable place, rather than cited like a source.
• Version matters. Name the version as specifically as the tool allows. If the tool gives you a link to your conversation, use that link instead of the general address.
• Verify the sources the tool mentions. If a chatbot cites a book and you never opened it, you must say that you are using an indirect source.

Chicago: a note, not usually a bibliography entry

The Chicago Manual of Style publishes short answers to common questions in its Q&A, including one on generative AI, at The Chicago Manual of Style Q&A (Chicago's pages sometimes sit behind a login, so if yours asks for one, use the print or online Manual through your library). Chicago's position is that you cite AI-generated text in a note or in the running text, because it is not a source a reader can consult, and you usually do not add it to the bibliography. Mention the tool and the prompt in the body when it helps.

Note template

1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, Month day, Year, https://chat.openai.com/chat.

Worked example in a sentence

When asked for a one-paragraph definition of tidal power, ChatGPT replied with a general description that matches textbook accounts.¹

1. Response to the prompt "Define tidal power in one paragraph," ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 8, 2025, https://chat.openai.com/chat.

If your course uses Chicago author-date, the same logic applies: describe the tool in the text, and give the details in a parenthetical remark or note rather than a reference-list entry, unless your instructor says otherwise.

Side by side: the same output in three styles

Imagine you asked a chatbot for the main causes of the 2008 financial crisis and you quote one sentence of its answer.

The dates, version names and wording are examples. Use the version label and the date that your own conversation shows.

When citing is not enough

A correct citation answers the style guide's question. It may not answer your school's. Policies vary widely, and the strictest ones forbid AI-generated text entirely for graded work. Before you rely on any tool, check:

• The course syllabus. Many instructors state exactly what is allowed: brainstorming only, grammar help only, or nothing.
• Your institution's academic integrity policy. It may require a disclosure statement even when you cite correctly.
• The journal or publisher. Many journals ask authors to disclose AI assistance in the methods or acknowledgments and do not accept AI systems as authors. Look up the author guidelines of the journal you are targeting.
• Your employer. Company confidentiality rules may stop you pasting client material into any outside tool.

If a policy says "disclose" and the style guide says "cite", do both.

Prompt disclosure: what to record

Because nobody can reopen your chat, keep your own record while you work. For each use, note:

1. The exact prompt, copied word for word.
2. The tool name and the version label or model name it shows.
3. The date and time you ran it.
4. What you used from the answer, and what you changed.
5. The general web address, and the conversation link if the tool provides one.

Save it in a notes file or a spreadsheet. If a marker later asks how you used the tool, you can answer in a minute, and the appendix, if you add one, is already written.

A sample acknowledgment statement

Some courses and journals ask for a short statement instead of, or in addition to, a citation. Here is a model you can adapt. Change the details so they are true for your own work.

AI use statement. I used ChatGPT (OpenAI) on 8 March 2025 to suggest three possible outlines for this essay and to check my grammar in the final draft. I wrote all arguments and sentences myself, chose the sources, and read each one. No text generated by the tool appears in the paper. The prompts I used are available on request.

If you did quote the tool, say so instead: "I quoted one definition generated by ChatGPT (see note 4), which I checked against the Oxford English Dictionary." Keep it specific and short. A vague line such as "AI was used" helps nobody.

Common mistakes

Checklist before you submit

1. Have you read the course, school or journal AI policy?
2. Is each AI-assisted passage cited in the required style?
3. Did you describe the prompt in your text or in an appendix?
4. Did you verify every fact and every source the tool mentioned?
5. Do your dates and version labels match your own records?
6. Have you added a disclosure statement if the policy asks for one?

Use AdeptWrite for the checking steps

The Citation Generator builds APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago, Harvard and IEEE references for the ordinary source types (books, articles, web pages) from the details you type. It runs in your browser and does not have a dedicated AI-chat template, so build AI entries by hand from the templates above and check them against the style guide. The Plagiarism Checker compares your text with open encyclopedic and academic sources and lists the sources it searched; it can flag passages that match published text, but it cannot tell you whether you owe a disclosure. If you have been wrongly flagged as AI-written, remember that the AI Content Detector gives an estimate, not proof, and should never be the only evidence against a person. For the wider question, read is using AI plagiarism?, what is ChatGPT? and the guide to avoiding plagiarism.

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