APA's September 2025 update drops version numbers from AI references and lets you cite a specific chat by its share link.
To cite ChatGPT in APA, list OpenAI as the author, then the date, the chat title, the model and the share URL. In the guides we publish at Chalkbox, we pull citation requirements straight from official editorial manuals so students avoid academic integrity issues. MLA lists OpenAI as the publisher instead and starts with a description of your prompt. Whether you may use AI at all is set by your instructor or course policy, which outranks any style manual. Consult your teacher's syllabus or an established AI syllabus statement before submitting work that uses AI.
APA updated its generative AI guidance in September 2025, and MLA published an updated revision in August 2025. Both updates reflect the fact that chatbots now let users generate shareable web links. APA now lets you cite a specific chat, because ChatGPT and most other AI chat tools have a share option that gives each chat its own URL. Older articles citing APA's 2023 advice describe an archived format. The 2023 format included a version number, which APA no longer advises because ChatGPT no longer shows one. Current rules drop the default version number and ask for specific model names instead.
| Style Manual | Reference / Works Cited Entry | In-Text or Note Citation |
|---|---|---|
| APA (September 2025 Update) | Company. (Date). Title [Description]. Model. URL | (Company, Year) or Company (Year) |
| MLA (August 2025 Update) | "Prompt description" prompt. ChatGPT, Model, Company, Date, URL. | ("Shortened prompt") |
| Chicago (18th Edition) | Not usually included in a bibliography; cite in the text or a note | Numbered note with prompt, tool, company, date, and URL |
The official APA guidelines outlined in APA Style Generative AI References divide citations into two forms: specific chats and general software tools. When referencing a conversation where you can generate a share link, use the chat template. APA says AI itself cannot be an author, so the company behind the algorithm occupies the author position.
Template for a specific AI chat:
AI Company Name. (year, month day). Title of chat in italics [Description, such as Generative AI chat]. Tool Name/Model. URL of the chat
Worked chat example:
OpenAI. (2025, August 21). High school grammar concepts [Generative AI chat]. ChatGPT. chatgpt.com/share/68a77b60-0ee4-800c-9acc-cd3fd573c311
Parenthetical citation:
(OpenAI, 2025)
Narrative citation:
OpenAI (2025)
Template for an AI tool generally:
AI Company Name. (year). Tool Name/Model in Italics and Title Case [Description; e.g., Large language model]. URL of the tool
Worked tool example:
OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT [Large language model]. chatgpt.com
Parenthetical citation:
(OpenAI, 2025)
Narrative citation:
OpenAI (2025)
An archival post from April 2023, detailed in Archived 2023 APA ChatGPT Guidance, previously required version tags like "(Mar 14 version)". Writers should not use that dated pattern in current academic papers.
MLA updated its core framework in MLA Generative AI Guidance (Updated and Revised). MLA does not treat an artificial intelligence system as an author. Instead, MLA starts the entry with a description of the prompt inside quotation marks, followed by the label prompt. The container is the name of the tool, followed by the specific model version, the publisher, the creation date, and the shareable location link.
Template for a Works Cited entry:
"Description of prompt" prompt. Title of Container, Version, Publisher, Date, Location.
Worked Works Cited entry:
"Describe the theme of nature in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park" prompt. ChatGPT, model GPT-4o, OpenAI, 23 Sept. 2024, chatgpt.com/share/66f1b0a0-d704-8000-be9a-85f53c850607.
In-text citation for a quote:
Nature is depicted frequently throughout Mansfield Park, and it "often mirrors the personalities or inner states of the characters" ("Describe the theme").
In-text citation for a paraphrase:
In Mansfield Park, physical locations like Mansfield Park and Sotherton reflect the morality and choices of the people who live in them ("Describe the theme").
Older MLA instructions on the original 2023 MLA Generative AI Article relied on general website links. The current standard expects a link direct to the specific conversation whenever the AI tool offers a share link.
The Chicago Manual of Style Q&A on AI says you can simply name the AI tool in your text, or credit it in a footnote or endnote. As summarized in the Georgetown University Library AI Citation Guide, section 14.112 of the 18th edition says chatbot conversations are cited in your text or in a note and are not usually included in a bibliography. The full text of CMOS Section 14.112 is paywalled, so that quotation comes from Georgetown's guide.
Standard footnote or endnote entry:
Footnote or endnote entry including the user prompt:
If you edited the AI output, state that modification within the text or at the end of the note using a short phrase like "edited for style and content". Minor typographic fixes like smart quotes do not require a note.
The fundamental citation patterns established for ChatGPT apply across alternative language models. When learning how to cite AI, you follow the identical structural framework by substituting the respective company name, tool title, and specific model identifier. MLA and Chicago give only the general generative-AI pattern for tools other than ChatGPT, while APA supplies distinct worked examples across several systems.
Under APA rules, the company that released the software is always listed as the author. For Anthropic's Claude, list Anthropic as the author. For Google's Gemini, list Google. Use the exact date the chat occurred and verify that the share link functions properly.
APA chat entry for Claude:
Anthropic. (2025, May 20). Essential grammar topics for high school graduates [Generative AI chat]. Claude Sonnet 4. claude.ai/share/329173b2-ec93-4663-ac68-4f65ea4f166d
APA tool entry for Claude:
Anthropic. (2025). Claude 4 Sonnet [Large language model]. claude.ai/new
APA chat entry for Gemini:
Google. (2025, May 22). High school grammar concepts overview [Generative AI chat]. Gemini 2.5 Flash. g.co/gemini/share/a1306ce12929
APA tool entry for Gemini:
Google. (2025). Gemini 2.5 Flash [Large language model]. gemini.google.com
APA chat entry for Perplexity:
Perplexity AI. (2025, May 20). High school grammar topics [Generative AI chat]. Perplexity. www.perplexity.ai/search/a457cb8c-c663-4c9b-b34e-cb03d8108b35
APA tool entry for Perplexity:
Perplexity AI. (2025). Perplexity [Large language model]. www.perplexity.ai/
For MLA formatting, keep the descriptive prompt structure and substitute the relevant tool details. An image generated using DALL-E follows this pattern:
Fig. 1. "Create an expressionist-style image of two people standing on a beach looking at the ocean" prompt, DALL-E, version 3, OpenAI, 23 Sept. 2024, chatgpt.com/share/66f1c3a3-3f90-8000-9750-82c57c4a6592.
A creative writing excerpt generated by a chatbot follows the same layout:
"The Oak Tree" free verse poem. ChatGPT, model GPT-4o, OpenAI, 23 Sept. 2024, chatgpt.com/share/66f1c740-7500-8000-a38b-6d6045c811f5.
Citing ChatGPT is different from disclosing how you used it while drafting. Disclosing describes your research workflow, while a formal citation credits the exact output you quote or paraphrase. APA calls submitting AI-generated work as though you did it yourself unethical, and for students that can be academic misconduct. If you are ever falsely accused of using AI, having timestamped chat transcripts and drafting notes helps prove your original authorship.
Rules can differ between departments. Our guide to an AI policy for schools shows what a school AI policy can cover. When you use AI to edit or organize your own writing, APA asks for an in-text citation plus one general reference to the tool, and MLA asks you to acknowledge that use in a note or in your text.
Acceptable disclosure phrasing in APA style:
I used ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2025) to edit my paper and provide feedback on clarity and flow.
Methodology disclosure phrasing in APA style:
I used Claude 3.7 Sonnet (Anthropic, 2025), a generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool, to generate a list of grammatical concepts that high school students should know by the end of the 12th grade.
APA adds that if you use AI to translate a source so you can understand it, you cite the original source, not the AI tool. APA says to keep a record of your prompts. Prompts are not part of the reference, so an important prompt goes in full in your Method section or an appendix, as agreed with your instructor.
Never ask ChatGPT to produce your bibliography. ChatGPT can invent sources; APA and MLA both warn about this. When an APA writer asked ChatGPT for sources, it returned five references: four could be found online, and the fifth did not seem to be a real article, because its digital object identifier (DOI) belonged to a different article.
MLA warns that AI tools can "hallucinate, or make up, sources or incorrectly summarize the content that it does reference." Look up the DOI in your library's databases before you paste a citation into your paper.
To find real papers instead of asking ChatGPT for them, see our guide to the best AI for research papers.
Before handing in an assignment that used AI, run through these verification steps:
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Yes. If you use ChatGPT to generate, paraphrase, or summarize content in your paper, you need to cite it. APA notes that you should disclose the use and cite the chat or the tool, while MLA directs writers to cite any text, image, or data created by the model.
Under the September 2025 APA update, cite a specific chat by listing the company, date, italic chat title, bracketed description, model name, and share URL. For general tool usage, list the company, year, italic tool name, bracketed description, and main URL.
Under the August 2025 MLA update, start with the prompt description in quotation marks, followed by ChatGPT in italics, the model version, the company name OpenAI, the date generated, and the shareable URL.
No. ChatGPT can invent sources: in APA's own check, one of five references it gave was not a real article and carried another article's DOI. Look up every source in your library's databases before you cite it.
APA and MLA put ChatGPT in both places: an in-text citation and an entry in the reference list or Works Cited. Chicago usually leaves chatbot conversations out of the bibliography and cites them in the text or a note.