If you’re looking for guidance around if you ‘should’ be using generative AI, the University has produced information for taught students (undergraduate and PGTs) and research students. They’ve also written further information on using AI and translation tools for taught students.

The Digital Creativity guide is a good introduction to what AI generation tools are and how they work, and some tips on prompt engineering.

We’re aware that different departments and lecturers have varying approaches and views on using generative AI in your academic work. If you have any questions about using it for a particular assignment you’ll need to speak directly to them.

One of the main reasons to provide a reference list is so that the sources you have used can be easily found and read by others. The results of your chat with an AI tool cannot be retrieved by others so how can you provide a reliable and stable link to that source?

You need to think critically about all the sources that you use, and AI is no different. Think about how reliable generative AI is as a source and how useful it might be for your particular piece of work. For example, if it’s provided you with quotes or citations, are they real? You might find the Critical Thinking guide helpful, particularly the page on evaluating information.

It is important to acknowledge how you have used AI in your work, which helps to explain the extent to which you have used generative AI tools and in what context. This also ensures that you are better able to avoid academic misconduct in your work.

If your department or lecturer has provided their own guidelines on how to acknowledge the use of AI in your work, we recommend that you follow those.

If they haven’t then we recommend you use or adapt the example below. Include the following information:

• Name and version of the generative AI system used; e.g. ChatGPT-3.5;
• Publisher (company that made the AI system); e.g. OpenAI;
• URL of the AI system;
• Brief description (single sentence) of context in which the tool was used.

E.g. I acknowledge the use of ChatGPT 3.5 (Open AI, https://chat.openai.com) to summarise my initial notes.

This is an example adapted from University College London.

There might be instances where you feel it is appropriate to include the output of your chat as an appendix to your work. This would be a way to let your reader see the exact text that was generated or what prompts you used to generate the output. Appendices normally come at the end of your work and are not included in your word count but be sure to check your own department’s requirements around this.

Read the APA style blog's post on 'How to cite ChatGPT' for their guidance on referencing these materials.

Visit the Chicago Manual of Style website for their official guidance on referencing these types of sources.

See below for an example of an in-text citation and an entry on the reference list.

'Academic writing is formal and objective, and some students can find it daunting to write in this style when they start at university (Microsoft, 2024).'

Company. (Year). Name of Generative AI (Version number if known). [Generative AI]. [Date accessed]. Available at: URL [Date accessed].

Microsoft. (2024). Copilot. [Generative AI]. Available at: https://copilot.microsoft.com/ [Accessed 23 August 2024].

IEEE has not yet issued any guidance on how to reference AI generated content. Given that AI generated content is generally not recoverable it should be treated as personal communication. So it can be cited appropriately in the text but it does not need to be included in the reference list, see below for an example.

'There’s no proof that Elvis really is dead (OpenAI's ChatGPT, private communication, 23 August 2024).'

The editors of MHRA have not yet issued any guidance on how to reference AI generated content. Given that AI generated content is generally not recoverable it should be treated as personal communication. It should be included in a footnote and not in the reference list. See below for an example.

'Paris, Rome and Berlin are the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.'¹

¹ Microsoft, Copilots' response to Sam Jones, 23 August 2024.

Use the citing generative AI template provided by the MLA.

OSCOLA have not yet issued any guidance on how to reference AI generated content. Given that AI generated content is generally not recoverable it should be treated as personal communication. It should be included in a footnote and not in the bibliography. See below for an example.

¹Response from Copilot to author (9 September 2024)

No official guidance has been provided yet so we recommend you use or adapt the following format:

#. Name of AI Tool [type of medium]. Creator of tool; version date. [Accessed YYYY Month DD].

1. ChatGPT. [Online conversation]. OpenAI; 2023. [cited 2024 August 23]. Accessed from: https://chat.openai.com.