How to Cite ChatGPT and Other AI Tools (APA, MLA, Chicago)

Cite a ChatGPT response when you quote, paraphrase, summarize, or otherwise incorporate its generated content. Also describe any substantive AI use required by your course or publication policy. A disclosure explains how AI affected the work; a citation identifies the particular output. You may need both.

• You quote or paraphrase a response: cite the output and disclose the use when policy requires it.
• You used AI to brainstorm, edit, or translate: the output may not belong in the source list, but a methods note or other acknowledgment may still be required.
• ChatGPT pointed you to a book, article, or webpage: open and verify the original source, then cite that source directly. Do not cite ChatGPT as a substitute for evidence you can inspect.
• Your assignment prohibits AI: a citation does not make the use permissible. Follow the assignment rule before using the tool.

See our guides to avoiding plagiarism and citing sources for the broader research workflow.

1. Product and model: record ChatGPT and, when the interface shows it, the exact model or version label used for that conversation.
2. Generation date: save the full date on which the cited response was produced.
3. Prompt and response: retain the prompt, any important follow-up prompts, and the response you used.
4. Your changes: note whether you shortened, translated, corrected, or otherwise edited the generated text.
5. Retrieval record: if it is safe and permitted, create a ChatGPT share link. Otherwise save a transcript or screenshot for any appendix or audit trail your institution requires.

As of this review, OpenAI identifies the GPT-5.6 family as Sol, Terra, and Luna, with access varying by product and plan. OpenAI also explains that it regularly introduces and retires models and that prior conversations can carry over when models change. Record the label shown at the time when a style asks for a model or version; do not infer a historical model from today’s default.

APA’s current guidance distinguishes a specific, recoverable AI chat from the AI tool in general. When a public share URL lets readers retrieve the chat, use the developer as author, the full chat date, the chat title in italics, the description [Generative AI chat], the tool name, and that share URL. State the prompt and how you used the response in your prose or methods section.

Specific shared-chat template:
OpenAI. ([year, Month day]). [Title of shared chat] [Generative AI chat]. [Tool or model name]. [public share URL]

Worked shared-chat example when the chat shows GPT-5.6 Sol:
OpenAI. (2026, August 11). Photosynthesis and light energy [Generative AI chat]. GPT-5.6 Sol. https://chatgpt.com/share/[conversation-ID]

General-tool template:
OpenAI. ([year of the tool’s most recent update]). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/

Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2026)
Narrative citation: OpenAI (2026)

The example share URL is a placeholder. Replace it and the chat title and date with the details from your own recoverable conversation. Use the separate general-tool pattern only when you are citing ChatGPT generally or when citing a specific chat would be unhelpful or inappropriate. Do not insert a model/version by default; include one only when it is actually identified and relevant. Preserve prompts and output in an appendix or supplemental record when readers need them, and follow any contrary course or publisher rule. For related structure and in-text rules, use the APA format guide.

MLA does not treat the AI tool as an author. Start with a description of the generated content or the prompt, use ChatGPT as the container, identify the specific model, name OpenAI as publisher, give the generation date, and prefer a stable share URL when one is available.

Works Cited template for an exact or concise prompt:
“[Exact or concise prompt]” prompt. ChatGPT, model [exact model label], OpenAI, [day abbreviated month year], [stable share URL].

Worked example if the conversation label is GPT-5.6 Sol:
“Explain how photosynthesis converts light energy” prompt. ChatGPT, model GPT-5.6 Sol, OpenAI, 11 Aug. 2026, chatgpt.com/share/[conversation-ID].

In-text citation: (“Explain how photosynthesis”)

The example share URL is a placeholder, not a usable link. Insert the real public URL from the conversation. If the title element is only your description of the generated content rather than words used as a prompt, omit the label prompt; for example: Explanation of how photosynthesis converts light energy. If the tool offers no stable share URL, MLA permits the general tool URL. MLA also advises acknowledging substantive or functional AI use beyond the source citation. For the core-elements system, see the MLA format guide.

Chicago’s 18th edition includes guidance for AI-generated content in section 14.112. In Notes and Bibliography, identify the response or prompt first, then the tool and model/version when known, OpenAI, the generation date, and a public URL when one is available.

Note template:
1. Response to “[prompt or concise prompt description],” ChatGPT ([model/version, if known]), OpenAI, [Month day, year], [public share URL].

Worked note:
1. Response to “Explain how photosynthesis converts light energy,” ChatGPT (GPT-5.6 Sol), OpenAI, August 11, 2026, https://chatgpt.com/share/[conversation-ID].

Author-Date reference for a public chat:
OpenAI. 2026. Response to “Explain how photosynthesis converts light energy.” ChatGPT (GPT-5.6 Sol), August 11. https://chatgpt.com/share/[conversation-ID].
In-text citation: (OpenAI 2026)

If you edited the response materially, add a phrase such as “edited for length and style.” Keep a nonrecoverable chat in the text or a note rather than adding it to a bibliography or reference list. A recoverable public chat may be listed under OpenAI in Author-Date or in a bibliography when the governing requirement calls for an entry. Read the Chicago style guide and follow the specific system assigned to you.

OpenAI shared links use the pattern https://chatgpt.com/share/<conversation-ID>. Depending on where you create it, the link can expose a snapshot of the conversation through that point or only an individual assistant response.

• Check the snapshot: preview exactly what the link includes before placing it in a paper.
• Remove sensitive material: anyone with the URL can view and reshare it; OpenAI does not offer granular permissions or an expiration date for ordinary shared links.
• Prefer the smallest useful share: when the interface offers response-level sharing, use it to avoid exposing unrelated earlier prompts.
• Do not call it permanent: deleting the conversation, account, or shared link can make the URL unavailable. Keep the record required by your institution.
• Use the public share URL: a private address from your browser session is not a retrievable citation link.

Do not simply replace the product name in a ChatGPT example. Before drafting the citation, record the other tool’s developer, product name, exact model or version, generation date, prompt and output, and a public link only when the tool provides one and sharing is permitted. Then assign those details to the roles required by the chosen style:

• APA: for a recoverable chat, give the developer, full chat date, italicized chat title, bracketed chat description, tool name, and share URL. Use the separate general-tool pattern only when that is the source you mean to identify.
• MLA: do not name the AI as an author; use the prompt or a description as the title, then give the tool as container, exact model/version, developer, generation date, and a stable public URL when available. Add the word prompt only when the title element is a prompt.
• Chicago: identify the tool and version, developer, generation date, prompt when it is not clear in the prose, and a public URL when one exists; follow the assigned Notes and Bibliography or Author-Date system.

Check the tool developer’s current documentation and your instructor or publisher’s policy before submitting the entry. Whatever tool you use, verify factual claims against the original evidence and cite that evidence directly.

The site’s current citation forms support manually entered details for ordinary source types such as websites, books, journal articles, newspapers, and YouTube videos. They do not provide a dedicated ChatGPT or generative-AI source type, and they do not collect the model/version, prompt, generation date, disclosure, or response-level share URL needed above.

Use the manual templates on this page for ChatGPT output. If ChatGPT helps you find an ordinary source, verify that source first and then use the relevant APA, MLA, or Chicago form as a draft. Review every result against the original source and the governing style guide.

• Copying an old GPT-4o, GPT-3.5, or dated-version example when a different model produced your response.
• Copying the legacy chat.openai.com address from an old example instead of the current chatgpt.com domain.
• Inventing a share URL or submitting the placeholder URL shown in a template.
• Using a model-release year for an APA shared chat, or using a chat date where APA asks for the general tool’s most recent-update year.
• Treating citation as permission to use AI or as a replacement for a required disclosure.
• Citing an AI summary instead of reading, verifying, and citing the original evidence.

• APA Style: Citing generative AI in APA Style, Part 1—Reference formats and the APA overview on AI in research and writing.
• MLA Style Center: revised generative-AI citation guidance and Beyond Citation: Describing AI Use in Your Work, both published August 13, 2025.
• The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed., section 14.112, together with Chicago’s 18th-edition update notes.
• OpenAI: ChatGPT Shared Links FAQ, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 release and availability, and OpenAI: What to expect when models change.