How to Cite ChatGPT in APA, MLA and Chicago, With Examples From the Current Guides

How to cite ChatGPT depends on your citation style, and the answer changed in 2025. APA now lets you cite the exact chat with its share link and no longer asks for version numbers. MLA now asks for the model name and prefers a share link to the chat. Chicago's editors answer the question in their online Q&A. Many of the guides that come up first in search still show the 2023 formats, with version dates like "Feb 13 version" and general chatgpt.com links.

This guide gives the current format in each style, straight from the style guides, worked through on one example chat. It also covers what the quick guides skip: AI images, Gemini, Claude and Copilot, prompts, and the difference between citing AI and disclosing it.

Before you cite: check that your course allows the use

A citation records what you did. It doesn't give you permission to do it. If your syllabus or the assignment bans AI, citing ChatGPT turns an undisclosed violation into a documented one. APA's style team puts it plainly: handing in AI-generated work as though you did it yourself counts as academic misconduct for students, and what's allowed depends on your instructor's, department's and publisher's policies (APA Style).

So the order is:

1. Read the AI policy in the syllabus and in this assignment's instructions. Our guide to reading your professor's AI policy walks through the common policy types.
2. Check how your instructor wants AI documented. Some ask for a citation in the course style, some for a short note at the end, some for the full chat. Their instructions beat every format below.
3. If the policy is silent on either point, ask before you start. One specific question by email gets the clearest answer; our templates for emailing a professor include one for clarifying an assignment.

How to cite ChatGPT: APA vs MLA vs Chicago at a glance

Here is the same chat cited three ways. The student asked ChatGPT on October 6, 2026, to compare the Federalist and Anti-Federalist positions on adding a bill of rights to the Constitution, then shared the chat.

If APA and MLA are both new to you, the free English Composition II course's section on citation standards in MLA and APA covers the basics of each: MLA's core elements, APA's author-date order and how in-text citations differ.

How to cite ChatGPT in APA Style

APA's current guidance is a set of posts the APA Style team published on September 9, 2025, replacing its 2023 post on ChatGPT. It gives two reference formats. Which one you use depends on whether a reader would benefit from seeing the chat itself.

A specific chat

Use this when you quote, paraphrase or discuss what the AI said, so a reader can open the exact conversation. The template, from APA:

AI Company Name. (year, month day). Title of chat in italics [Description, such as Generative AI chat]. Tool Name/Model. URL of the chat

Our example in APA:

OpenAI. (2026, October 6). Federalist and Anti-Federalist views on a bill of rights [Generative AI chat]. ChatGPT. [your chat's share link]

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

The details that trip people up:

• The author is the company, not the chatbot. APA defines the author as whoever is responsible for the work, and says AI can't be an author because it can't consent to authorship or take on its responsibilities.
• The date is the day the chat took place or ended, not the day you wrote the paper.
• The title is the chat's title, in italic sentence case. Most chat tools let you rename a chat, and APA suggests giving yours a descriptive title before you cite it.
• The source is the tool's name, either general (ChatGPT) or the model you picked, followed by the chat's share link.

The tool in general

Use this when citing every chat would be unhelpful, for example when ChatGPT edited your own draft, translated your own writing into another language, helped with code, or helped make a table or figure. You don't need to put every draft on display. The template:

AI Company Name. (year). Tool Name/Model in Italics and Title Case [Description; e.g., Large language model]. URL of the tool

For a paper this fall:

OpenAI. (2026). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/

The year is the year the tool was most recently updated, not the year you used it; if you can't find an update date, APA says to use the copyright date on the site or app. Pair the reference with a sentence in your paper that says what you did, such as "I used ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2026) to flag unclear sentences in my second draft." For a table or figure made with AI, say so in the table or figure note.

What changed from the 2023 format

• No version numbers by default. The old "(Feb 13 version)" is gone. APA now says to name the model if you know it, or just the tool.
• Share links replace general URLs for specific chats. In 2023 APA cited only the tool because chats couldn't be retrieved; most chat tools now give each chat its own URL.
• Prompts stay out of the reference. Describe them in your text or, if they matter, put them in full in an appendix. APA's reasons: a prompt isn't one of the four reference elements, it doesn't help anyone retrieve the chat, and a real exchange usually has several prompts.

How to cite ChatGPT in MLA style

The MLA Style Center revised its guidance on August 13, 2025. It fits ChatGPT into the usual MLA template of core elements. The tool is the container, the way a journal contains an article; if that idea is new, The Word on College Reading and Writing has a free MLA Container Logic demo and a section on information literacy and MLA built on the same containers.

Element by element, per MLA:

1. Author: leave it out. MLA doesn't treat the AI tool as an author.
2. Title of Source: describe what was generated. Usually that's your prompt in quotation marks followed by the word "prompt."
3. Title of Container: the tool, in italics: ChatGPT.
4. Version: the model, as specifically as you can.
5. Publisher: the company: OpenAI.
6. Date: the day the content was generated.
7. Location: a stable share link to the chat. If the tool doesn't offer one, give its general URL.

Our example as a works-cited entry, assuming the student used GPT-5.5 (use whatever model your chat shows):

"Compare the Federalist and Anti-Federalist views on a bill of rights" prompt. ChatGPT, model GPT-5.5, OpenAI, 6 Oct. 2026, [your chat's share link].

MLA's own examples write the link without "https://", as in chatgpt.com/share/ followed by the chat's ID. In your paper, the in-text citation is a shortened form of that title: ("Compare the Federalist"). If the answer you're citing grew out of several prompts in one chat, MLA says a more general description works, such as Federalist and Anti-Federalist views prompt.

MLA updated this post because AI tools keep changing, and its post on describing AI use says the way instructors ask students to cite AI is still evolving. Check both again before a big paper.

How to cite ChatGPT in Chicago style

Chicago's editors answer this in the Q&A on The Chicago Manual of Style Online, based on the 18th edition. You have to credit ChatGPT whenever you use text it generated, but for most writing, saying so in your sentence is enough: "ChatGPT gave the following summary of the Anti-Federalist position."

For a student paper or research article, add a numbered footnote or endnote. The URL is the one from ChatGPT's Share button:

1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, October 6, 2026, [your chat's share link].

If your sentence doesn't already give the prompt, put it in the note:

1. ChatGPT, response to "Compare the Federalist and Anti-Federalist views on a bill of rights," OpenAI, October 6, 2026, [your chat's share link].

If you edited what ChatGPT wrote, say so in your text or at the end of the note ("edited for style and content"). Fixing quotation marks or the font doesn't count.

The Q&A doesn't cover bibliography entries or the author-date system. The University of Alberta Library's summary of the 18th edition (section 14.112) says AI tools don't need to go in a bibliography or reference list unless your instructor asks for them (University of Alberta Library). If your instructor does ask, the library's bibliography template puts the company first:

OpenAI. Response to "Compare the Federalist and Anti-Federalist views on a bill of rights." ChatGPT, October 6, 2026. [your chat's share link].

For Chicago author-date, the same guide puts the company and the full date in the parentheses: (OpenAI, October 6, 2026). The manual itself is behind a paywall, so treat these as one library's reading of it and check with your instructor.

How to cite Gemini, Claude, Copilot and other AI tools

The formats above work for any chatbot: swap in the company and the tool. APA's own examples cite chats in Claude, Gemini and Perplexity with share links, under Anthropic, Google and Perplexity AI as authors.

Three cases where the answer is usually "don't cite the AI," at least in APA and MLA:

• AI built into everyday software. APA says you don't cite Copilot inside Microsoft Word or the AI features in Canva, any more than you'd cite spell-check (APA Style, Part 2). Your instructor may still want you to mention it, so check the policy.
• AI used as a search engine. If AI only pointed you to sources, cite the sources you then read, not the AI. MLA says the same about Google's AI Overviews: they're search results, so click through and cite the page (MLA Style Center).
• Facts the AI gave you. Find where the fact comes from and cite that. Lykke's free Technical Writing course has a section on finding and evaluating information for exactly this step.

How to cite an AI-generated image

• MLA: give the image a caption. MLA's format is a figure number, then the prompt description, the tool, the version, the company, the date and the share link. A caption written this way can stand in for a works-cited entry, or you can put the same details in a works-cited entry instead. For an image made in ChatGPT: Fig. 1. "Draw a political cartoon about the 1788 ratification debate" prompt, ChatGPT, [the model your chat shows], OpenAI, 6 Oct. 2026, [your chat's share link].
• APA: say in the figure note that the image was made with AI, and cite the tool or the chat in the formats above.
• Chicago: the CMOS Q&A doesn't address images, so ask your instructor.

Citing AI vs disclosing AI use

A citation points to a specific source. Disclosure says how AI touched your work: what you used it for, and what you did yourself. MLA treats them as different jobs. Its post on describing AI use says that acknowledging substantive AI use, so readers can see where the AI ends and your work begins, is broader than citation, and that AI output isn't a source in the traditional sense (MLA Style Center).

In practice, many papers need both:

• A citation for each chat you quote, paraphrase or discuss.
• A disclosure note for uses that leave no quotable output, such as feedback on a draft, a brainstorm or grammar suggestions. APA suggests describing these in the text (a Method section, for research papers) and citing the tool in general.

A disclosure note can be two sentences:

AI use: I asked ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2026) for possible counterarguments to my thesis and kept two of them, which I researched and rewrote in my own words. The thesis, sources, structure and final wording are mine.

Keep a running log while you work: date, tool, what you asked, what you kept. A few lines at the bottom of your notes for the paper is enough, and the habits in our guide to taking notes in college make it easy to keep up.

Should the prompts go in an appendix?

Only if your instructor asks for them or they matter to your argument. APA says prompts can go where you disclose the use, or in an appendix or supplemental material, and that whether that's useful is a call to make with your instructor. Some instructors want the full chat for every AI use; a share link covers that.

How to get a share link, and keep it working

Every current format leans on the share link, so treat it like a source you can lose. In ChatGPT, open the chat, select Share, then Create link or Copy link (OpenAI Help Center). Then:

• Anyone with the link can read it when it's made from a personal account, so check what's in the chat first. Our list of what to keep out of AI chats applies twice over to a chat you'll cite.
• A school account's link may not open for your instructor. OpenAI says links made in a ChatGPT Edu, Business or Enterprise workspace open only for members of that same workspace. Edu workspace admins can also switch sharing off entirely. If your instructor isn't in the workspace or you can't share, ask how they want the chat (a PDF or a pasted transcript in an appendix).
• A personal-account link is a snapshot. Messages you add after sharing don't show up until you select Share and Update link. (A workspace link can pick up later messages, so stop adding to a chat once you've cited it.) APA notes that a reader can continue a shared chat, but other readers still see only the original; OpenAI says the reader's continuation becomes a separate, private chat in their own account.
• Don't delete the chat. Deleting a ChatGPT conversation removes its shared link (so does deleting your account), and your citation would point nowhere. You can review your links under Settings, Data controls, Shared links.

Mistakes that make an AI citation wrong

• Listing ChatGPT as the author. APA, MLA and Chicago all start with something else: the company, the prompt or the phrase "Text generated by."
• Copying a 2023 example. A version date like "Feb 13 version" or a general chatgpt.com link for a specific chat is the old APA format.
• Citing AI for a fact. AI tools can invent sources or misstate real ones, MLA warns. Read the original and cite it; the English Composition II section on quoting and paraphrasing shows how to put a source in your own words.
• Citing a source the AI listed without opening it. If it doesn't exist or says something else, the error is yours.
• Putting the prompt in an APA reference. It belongs in your text or an appendix.
• Citing in a course that bans AI. Ask first; don't cite your way around the rule.

For citation mechanics beyond AI, the free Writing Guide course has a grammar, mechanics and documentation handbook, and the Online Writing Lab's section on drafting, revising and editing covers the final pass where you check every citation against its source.