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Artificial intelligence tools

General format

The APA advises that artificial intelligence tools should be referenced using the software referencing format as follows. 

Author. (YYYY). Name of software (Version name) [Type of AI model]. URL

Author Developer of the product, e.g. OpenAI 
Year Year the version of the software was released.
Name of software Name of the software, e.g. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Litmaps.
Version name This could be a version number, date, edition or name.
Type of AI model Description of the type of AI model, e.g. large language model, image generator, code generation tool, audio generation tool.
URL Website URL to access the tool.

Although the APA advises students to use the software reference type, assessments may require a different reference list format. For example, you may be required to reference individual chats on different dates and include a link to each chat in the reference list. 

Follow your educator's instructions on referencing artificial intelligence tools in the context of assignments.

Examples

ChatGPT

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

Claude

Anthropic. (2023). Claude (Oct 8 version) [Large language model]. https://www.anthropic.com

DALL-E 3

OpenAI. (2023). DALL-E (Oct 8 version) [Image generator]. https://openai.com/index/dall-e-3

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft. (2023). Copilot (Version 1.0) [Large language model]. https://copilot.microsoft.com

Style notes

  • Do not cite as personal communication. APA uses the Software reference list format.
  • Add an in-text citation and reference list entry.
  • For psychology reports, add a description of how you used the tool in your Method section or Introduction.