Who owns the output? Do you cite a chatbot the same way you cite your classmate or a journal? When you use a tool like ChatGPT to help write a paragraph, or DALL·E to design a poster, you’re not just borrowing from the internet but you’re co-creating with a system trained on billions of pieces of data, much of which belongs to real people. That raises big and interesting questions:
- Is AI an author?
- Are you the author if you used AI to generate most of the work?
- Can you copyright something that wasn’t entirely human-made?
As the lines between human and machine-made content blur, so does our understanding of authorship.
That means giving credit where it’s due (yes, even to a chatbot!), being transparent about how AI helped you. Citing AI isn’t about inflating your bibliography or feeling as if you did not really do your work it’s about academic integrity and creative ownership
Reminder: always check with your professor, class policy or class instruction with regards to generative AI citation expectations as it may differ in different context
For example, if it’s for something related to a course, check the syllabus policies and then ask the instructor if you have questions. If its for a research paper, check for AI guidelines for authors with your disciplinary organization and potential journals (e.g., ASM’s Generative AI Editorial Policies or Sage Publishing’s AI Author guidelines). For other pieces of writing there are guides like AI Best Practices for Authors from the AuthorsGuild.
SUGGESTED GUIDELINES ON HOW TO CITE AI IN DIFFERENT STYLES
