AI References

This page contains reference examples for AI tools and AI chats, including the following:

1. AI tool
2. AI chat

• The author is the company responsible for developing the AI tool.
• The date is the year in which the AI tool was most recently updated. If you are unsure of the date, ask the AI. If the tool does not indicate the date of last update, use the copyright date provide on the website or app.
• The title is the name of the AI tool, which can be general (e.g., ChatGPT or Gemini) or the name of the model (e.g., ChatGPT-5 or Gemini 3 Flash).
• Provide a description of the AI in brackets after the title. For chat tools, currently “[Large language model]” is usually correct. But, other descriptions are possible; use the description that best fits the type of AI model or tool used.
• The source element is only the URL of the AI tool because the author and publisher of the AI are the same. As in all APA Style references in which the author is the same as the publisher, that name is included only once in the reference (in the author element).

• The author is the company responsible for developing the AI tool. Although these companies did not “write” the generated text in the traditional sense, the author element of an APA Style reference is broadly defined as who is “responsible for a work.” Whereas in some other references that can be an individual author, editor, film director, or podcast host, here it is the organization that created the AI tool. AI itself cannot be an author because it is not a living, conscious human who can give consent and promise to abide by the rights and responsibilities that come with authorship. For example, OpenAI is the author of ChatGPT, and Google is the author of Gemini.
• The date in an AI chat reference is the specific year, month, and day on which a chat occurred or concluded.
• The title is the title of the chat (in italic sentence case) followed by a bracketed description to clarify for readers the nature of the source; for example, “[Generative AI chat].” Adapt the wording within square brackets as needed; it is flexible so you can choose wording that will “best convey the information readers need” (per Section 9.21 of the Publication Manual; APA, 2020, p. 292). In most AI tools, users can edit the title of the chat, so before creating the reference, consider editing the title within the AI tool to be something descriptive and helpful for readers.
• The source begins with the name of the AI tool, which can be general (e.g., ChatGPT or Gemini) or the name of the model (e.g., ChatGPT-5 or Gemini 3 Flash). The final piece of the source element is the URL of the chat.