Citing Generative AI
When conducting research on a generative AI tool like ChatGPT, it may be useful to include prompts and outputs in your written report or presentation. In this case, ChatGPT or other generative AI tools should be cited clearly. For example, the APA Style caption below provides information on the "author", OpenAI, and describes the prompt that was used to generate the image. Other style guides, such as Chicago Style may differ on whether these images have an author listed, though the AI tool still needs to be described. Please see the individual style guides for the most recent guidelines for citing AI works.
Example 1
This image was generated using DALL-E 3 (OpenAI, 2024) with the prompt "Generate an image of a wooden study carrel in a beautiful academic library with a laptop on the table surface."
Example 2
Prompt: How might ChatGPT reproduce biases in the information it provides to a user? Give me a couple succinct examples.
ChatGPT Output: Sure, here are a couple of succinct examples:
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Reflecting Training Data Bias: If ChatGPT is trained on text data containing gender stereotypes (e.g., "nurses are usually female" or "engineers are usually male"), it might generate responses that perpetuate these stereotypes when asked about professions.
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Echoing User Biases: If a user asks ChatGPT a biased question (e.g., "Why are certain ethnicities more prone to crime?"), ChatGPT might inadvertently reinforce the bias in its response by providing information that appears to validate the assumption rather than challenging it. (OpenAI, 2024)
References (in APA Style )
OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (May 3 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
OpenAI. (2024). DALL-E (Version 3) [artificial intelligence system]. https://openai.com/index/dall-e-3
See the following resources for more recommendations on how to cite generative AI outputs:
APA 7th Edition - Citations: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Justice Institute British Columbia
Citation and Attribution with AI Tools in APA, Chicago and MLA Styles, Brown University Library
Copyright Concerns
According to the U.S. Copyright Office, works that contain "no human authorship" cannot be copyrighted. However, works that partially contain AI-generated elements, such as human authored elements combined with AI-produced images, can be. The individual images cannot be copyrighted (but you will still want to cite them in academic works for transparency and to follow style guidelines!).
The Committee on Publication Ethics states that an AI cannot have authorship, as it cannot take responsibility for the work. Therefore, generative AI's should not be listed as co-authors for a paper, even if it utilized to some degree for assistance.
For updated information on AI and U.S. copyright law, please visit the U.S. Copyright Office website, copyright.gov/ai.
References
Committee on Publication Ethics. (2023, February 13). Authorship and AI Tools. https://publicationethics.org/cope-position-statements/ai-author