Gen Artificial Intelligence

GenAI Guide

Fundamentals For AI Use

Here are some fundamental ideas that hold true for citing AI generated content, no matter which citation style you're using:

  • 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. 

Credit: Brown University Library

Research

 

Acknowledge Use

Planning on Using GenAI

Whether you are going to use GENAI for course assignments, academic work, or other forms of writing You should always check with your instructor before using AI in any coursework.

Get into the habit of disclosing the use of AI tools 

  • See examples below on how to cite AI generators in various citation styles.
  • Do not claim any AI-generated content as your own work. This is academic dishonesty and would be considered plagiarism as defined by South Texas College - Student Academic Dishonesty.
  • GenAI like ChatGPT should never be considered a primary source. Always check the information in authoritative sources like those sources found in library databases.
  • Get into the habit of keeping the transcript of your prompts and the responses. CHATGPT requires the use of a third-party browser extension like SaveGPT. Copilot Chat allows you to save and print chat history. Consider attaching the history to assignments as an appendix to be transparent about your use of AI.

Copyright and Artificial Intelligence

Copyrights, Professional Perspective - Copyright Chaos: Legal Implications of Generative AI

Copyright and Artificial Intelligence - U.S. Copyright Office

Additional Information: Fair Use: Training Generative AI

Evaluate

Check the facts! Evaluate AI-generated content 

Any content created by artificial intelligence should be carefully evaluated. Artificial intelligence can produce false or biased results and use outdated information. Use the CRAAP test to help you evaluate content generated by AI. At a minimum, ask yourself the following questions:

  • AI can demonstrate bias. Is there any slant or bias to the content?
  • Where did this information come from? Can you fact-check any claims in an alternative source?
  • Do not ask for the AI to show sources as they can be false. Instead, check any facts or data yourself in alternative sources like library databases 
  • Evaluate AI created content for Currency, Relevancy, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose

Credit:  CRAAP test - Benedictine University Library

 

Citing Examples

APA

APA recommends citing artificial intelligence bot communications as an algorithm output. Credit the author of the algorithm. In the case of ChatGPT, the creator is the company OpenAI. The title should be the name of the AI tool. Indicate which version you are using after the title of the AI tool in brackets. Include the phrase "Large language model" in square brackets to indicate this is an AI tool. Finally, include the link to the tool. APA also recommends considering including the full text of the interaction in an appendix. See the full explanation on the APA Style's blog, How to Cite ChatGPT.

Reference example:

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

In-text example:

(OpenAI, 2023)

In-text example if the full text of the interaction is included in an appendix:

(OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

MLA

Omit the author. Use a description of the content in place of a title. List the AI tool and the version, as well as the company behind the tool. You may need to use a third-party browser extension, like ShareGPT to create a stable URL to the content. For more information, see the MLA Style Center's blog post, How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?

Works cited example:

“Describe the ethics of using AI to write homework assignments” prompt. ChatGPT, Feb. 13 version, OpenAI, 22 Mar. 2023, https://sharechatgpt.com/share/8ceff295698fd9e78cebf7a92c79e231

In text example:

("Describe the ethics of using AI")

Chicago

The Chicago Manual Style - Online

Chicago style requires that you cite AI-generated content in your work by including either a note or a parenthetical citation, but advises you not to include that source in your bibliography or reference list.  The reason given for this is that, because you cannot provide a link to the conversation or session with the AI tool, you should tread that content as you would a phone call or private conversation. However, AI tools are starting to introduce functionality that does allow a user to generate a sharable link to a chat conversation, so this guidance from the Chicago Manual of Style may change. 

Here are some general guidelines for referencing AI-generated content in Chicago style:

  • Treat the AI tool as the author of the content.
  • If possible, describe the prompt used to generate the content in the text, but if that approach doesn't work, you can include that information in a footnote or endnote.
  • The date used in your citation will be the date the content was generated.

Format:
1. Author, Title, Publisher, Date, url for the tool.  

Example (if information about the prompt has been included within the text of your paper):

1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat. 

Example (including information about the prompt):

1. ChatGPT, response to "Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients," OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.