**You must get permission from your instructor BEFORE you use AI-generated materials.** 

This information is based on the April 7, 2023 guidance (last updated February 23, 2024) from the APA Style team for citing ChatGPT. This page will be updated when the APA releases updated information.

See also the APA policy on the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in scholarly materials. 

Examples:

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

• In-text paraphrase and quote [short AI answer]: (OpenAI, 2025).
• In-text paraphrase and quote [long AI answer]: (OpenAI, 2025; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Note: ChatGPT no longer provides a version date so that information is not included in the citation

Google. (2025). Gemini (January 30 version) [Large language model]. https://bard.google.com/chat 

• In-text paraphrase and quote [short AI answer]: (Google, 2025).
• In-text paraphrase and quote [long AI answer]: (Google, 2025; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Note. See the “Release Updates” page for the version date. https://gemini.google.com/updates  

Ought. (2025). Elicit AI (January 31 version) [Large language model]. https://elicit.com/?workflow=table-of-papers 

• In-text paraphrase and quote [short AI answer]: (Ought, 2025).
• In-text paraphrase and quote [long AI answer]: (Ought, 2025; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Note. See the “Changelog” for the latest date. https://support.elicit.com/en/articles/1475137

Khan, A. (2024). Magic School (August 1 version) [Large Language Model]. https://www.magicschool.ai/

• In-text paraphrase and quote [short AI answer]: (Khan, 2024).
• In-text paraphrase and quote [long AI answer]: (Khan, 2024; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Note. See the “Terms of Service” for the version date. https://www.magicschool.ai/privacy-security/terms-of-service

*Note: if the Artificial Intelligence software you are using provides a link to your question, provide that instead of the URL of the login page.

When the AI answer is short:

In your paper, include the prompt you asked and then the quote or paraphrase from the AI answer.

Sample paper:

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

Reference

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

When the AI Answer is long OR your professor requires this option (EdD students are required to use this option):

In your paper, include the prompt you asked AND put the full text of a long AI answer in an appendix so the reader has access to the full text.

Sample paper:

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Reference

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

Note: See the April 7, 2023, guidance from the APA Style team for information about in-text citations for AI tools.

McAdoo, T. (2023, April 7). How to cite ChatGPT. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt

• Author: Use the creator of the AI as the author (e.g. OpenAI, Google, etc.)
• Date: Include the date the content was generated. 
• Title: Use the name of the AI tool (e.g. ChatGPT, Bard)
• Version: Name the version of the AI tool as specifically as possible. 
• Description: In brackets, clarify that this is a large language model, or another specific type of generative AI.
• Location: Give the URL for the tool. If possible, give the URL for the specific content. (Note: If you can send someone a URL of your specific ChatGPT conversation, use this URL in your citation.)