Chicago Style: Citing AI Generated Text in Chicago Style

Current status

• As of March 7, 2023, Chicago Manual of Style's (CMOS) does provide some advice on how to cite A.I.-based text.  It can currently be found in the Q&A section of the CMOS Online.

General guidelines

• It is mandatory to credit an A.I. chatbot like ChatGPT whenever text generated by those tools is used in one's work.
• A 'conversation' with an A.I. chatbot is being treated as a form of personal communication (see CMOS 14.214 and 15.53), due to being unretrievable.
• Output from A.I. tools like ChatGPT should not be included in a bibliography or reference list.
• If the A.I.-generated text was edited, it should be made clear (e.g., "edited for style and content")
  • It is not necessary to disclose layout changes (like switching the font, etc.). Those can be imposed silently (see CMOS 13.7 and 13.8)

Application of CMOS guidelines

Template

For a formal citation of A.I. generated text in a note, CMOS Online provides the following template:

1. Text generated by ______ (A.I. tool's name), Date, Publisher, General URL

How to use this template:

Author
The A.I. tool (in our example ChatGPT) is the author of the content

Date
The date the text was generated

Publisher
The organization that provides the A.I. tool in question is listed as the publisher or sponsor of the content (in our example, OpenAI is listed, because it is the company that created ChatGPT).

Location
Provide the general URL where the tool may be found (not an individual URL for a conversation)

Prompt
If the prompt (= the text input on the tool's command-line that defines the query to the ChatBot, usually in natural language) has not been included in the manuscript, it can be included in the note.

In-text using a note

1. ChatGPT, response to "Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients," March 7, 2023, OpenAI, https://chat.openai.com/chat.

Alternative: Using author-date

If instead of a note, author-date is being used, any information not in the text would be placed in a parenthetical text reference.

“(ChatGPT, March 7, 2023).”

Reference list

Do not include a citation in your reference list.