Free AI Citation Generator Cite ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and More
Cite ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and other AI tools correctly in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 17, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver. Pick the tool you used, add the version, date and prompt, and copy the reference entry with every in-text form, built on the guidance the style manuals published for generative AI. Ten model families come preset; any other tool takes a few keystrokes.
The version is in the product's model picker or settings. The prompt makes MLA, Chicago and Harvard entries complete; APA works without it.
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How to cite an AI model in three steps
Pin down the version
Open the model picker or settings in your AI tool and note the exact version you used. AI tools change weekly, so the version is what makes your citation reproducible, the same way an edition dates a book.
Add the date and prompt
Record when the text was generated and what you asked. MLA and Chicago build the citation around the prompt itself, and every style dates the exchange somewhere.
Copy in your style
Pick APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE or Vancouver and copy the entry with italics intact, plus the in-text forms and the note or disclosure wording the style expects.
Why this AI citation generator is different
The official patterns, not guesses
APA, MLA and Chicago published real guidance for citing AI in 2023, and each output here follows it: company as author for APA, prompt as title for MLA, notes-only for Chicago.
Ten model families preset
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek, Le Chat, Perplexity and Qwen come with company and URL filled in. You add only what is yours: the version, date and prompt.
The disagreements handled
Chicago wants no bibliography entry, MLA wants no author, Harvard wants an appendix and IEEE wants an acknowledgment. The generator changes shape per style instead of forcing one template onto seven rulebooks.
Italics survive the paste
Copy puts rich and plain text on the clipboard, so model names arrive in Microsoft Word or Google Docs already italicized where the style wants them.
Citing AI: what the style manuals actually decided
For a year after ChatGPT's release, citing it was guesswork. Then the manuals answered, and they answered differently. APA reasoned that the output of an algorithm belongs to the company that made it, so OpenAI or Anthropic takes the author position, with the model italicized as the title and the version in parentheses. MLA reached the opposite conclusion: an AI cannot be an author at all, so the entry is built around your prompt, with the tool as the container it appeared in. Chicago looked at the same problem and filed it under personal communication, cited in a footnote or in the text and never in the bibliography.
Where all three agree is on the details that make the citation reproducible: which version, and when. A model's answer to the same prompt differs between releases and even between days, which is why every pattern here dates the exchange and why the version field matters more than it does for any book. It is also why the guides point readers at the tool's URL rather than a chat link, and suggest keeping the full transcript in an appendix.
One line has hardened across academic publishing: an AI model is never an author. The ICMJE and COPE both hold that AI cannot meet authorship criteria because it cannot take responsibility for the work, and publishers including Nature and Science have written the same rule into their policies. In practice that means two obligations that travel together: cite AI output where it appears in your text, and disclose AI assistance where your journal or university asks for it, usually in the methods or acknowledgments.
The other half of AI citation hygiene concerns the sources a model recommends. Language models invent plausible references, so any paper an AI suggests needs verifying against a real database before it enters your reference list; the AI citation checker runs that check on a whole pasted list, and the main citation generator formats real records straight from Crossref. And once the AI is cited honestly, the prose around it still has to read like yours; that is the job of the TextPulse humanizer.
Anatomy of an AI citation
One ChatGPT conversation, taken apart in six styles. Hover any coloured part of the reference entry or the in-text variations to see what it is and the rule behind it.
OpenAI. (2026). ChatGPT (GPT-5 version) [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/
The pattern the APA Style blog published for ChatGPT, applied to any AI model. Alphabetize under the company's name in the reference list.
(OpenAI, 2026)
OpenAI (2026)...
When prompted, ChatGPT generated... (OpenAI, 2026)
APA recommends describing the prompt in the text or method section; a full transcript can go in an appendix.
(OpenAI, 2026)
AI output has no page numbers, so no p. locator is possible; make clear in the sentence that the words are the model's.
Hover any coloured part for what it is and the rule behind it.
How the six styles treat AI differently
Seven outputs, four philosophies. These are the decisions each manual made, and the generator applies.
APA: the company is the author
OpenAI, Anthropic or Google takes the author position, credited with the algorithm's output. The model is italicized as the title, the version sits in parentheses, and a bracketed [Large language model] tells readers what kind of source this is.
MLA: the prompt is the title
MLA declines to treat the AI as an author. The entry opens with your prompt in quotation marks, the tool becomes the italicized container, and the in-text citation is a shortened form of that prompt.
Chicago: notes only
The Chicago Manual treats AI output like personal communication: a numbered footnote carries the model, prompt, company and full date, and nothing appears in the bibliography, in either Chicago system.
Harvard: a personal communication
Cite Them Right files generative AI under personal communications, because your reader cannot retrieve the exchange. The maker and tool together are the originator, and the transcript belongs in an appendix.
IEEE: cite and disclose
IEEE has no official AI template, so the software pattern stands in. What IEEE does mandate is disclosure: AI-generated content must be declared in the acknowledgments, alongside any reference.
Vancouver: the ICMJE line
Medical journals follow ICMJE, which requires AI use to be described in the methods or acknowledgments and bars AI from authorship. The reference itself adapts NLM's software pattern.
The ten AI tools researchers cite most
Each preset carries the real company and URL. Shown in APA 7; the generator formats every one in all seven outputs.
ChatGPT
OpenAI
OpenAI. (2026). ChatGPT (GPT-5 version) [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/
Claude
Anthropic
Anthropic. (2026). Claude (Sonnet 4.5 version) [Large language model]. https://claude.ai/
Gemini
Google. (2026). Gemini (2.5 Pro version) [Large language model]. https://gemini.google.com/
Meta AI
Meta
Meta. (2026). Meta AI (Llama 4 version) [Large language model]. https://www.meta.ai/
Copilot
Microsoft
Microsoft. (2026). Copilot (GPT-5 version) [Large language model]. https://copilot.microsoft.com/
Grok
xAI
xAI. (2026). Grok (Grok 4 version) [Large language model]. https://grok.com/
DeepSeek
DeepSeek
DeepSeek. (2026). DeepSeek (DeepSeek-V3 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.deepseek.com/
Le Chat
Mistral AI
Mistral AI. (2026). Le Chat (Mistral Large version) [Large language model]. https://chat.mistral.ai/
Perplexity
Perplexity AI
Perplexity AI. (2026). Perplexity (Sonar version) [Large language model]. https://www.perplexity.ai/
Qwen
Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba Cloud. (2026). Qwen (Qwen3 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.qwen.ai/
APA 7 shown; the generator formats each tool in all seven outputs. The version shown is a current example, so swap in the one you used.
One conversation, seven outputs
The same ChatGPT exchange formatted for every style the generator supports. Note where the prompt appears, where it does not, and which styles keep AI out of the reference list entirely.
APA (7th edition)
Reference list entry
OpenAI. (2026). ChatGPT (GPT-5 version) [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/
MLA (9th edition)
Works Cited entry
"Explain the difference between correlation and causation for a first-year statistics student" prompt. ChatGPT, GPT-5 version, OpenAI, 14 July 2026, chatgpt.com.
Chicago (notes and bibliography)
Footnote (Chicago cites AI in notes only)
ChatGPT, response to "Explain the difference between correlation and causation for a first-year statistics student," OpenAI, 14 July 2026.
Chicago (author-date)
In-text citation (no reference list entry)
(ChatGPT, 14 July 2026)
Harvard (Cite Them Right)
Reference list entry
OpenAI ChatGPT (2026) ChatGPT response to prompt 'Explain the difference between correlation and causation for a first-year statistics student', 14 July.
IEEE
Reference list entry
[1] OpenAI, ChatGPT (GPT-5 version) [Large language model], 2026. [Online]. Available: https://chatgpt.com/ (accessed 14 July 2026).
Vancouver
Reference list entry
1. ChatGPT (GPT-5 version) [Large language model]. OpenAI; 2026 [cited 14 July 2026]. Available from: https://chatgpt.com/
All seven come from the generator above. The prompt and dates are examples; substitute the details of your own conversation.
Who uses the AI citation generator
Students
Cite permitted AI use in essays honestly and correctly, with the style's official pattern doing the formatting.
Researchers and academics
Meet journal disclosure rules: the citation, the acknowledgment wording and the version details, all in one place.
AI-assisted writers
Attribute what the model wrote, verify what it recommended, and keep the boundary between the two visible in your draft.
Instructors and integrity officers
Point students at one page that shows how APA, MLA and Chicago actually want AI cited, disagreements included.
The AI is cited.
Now make the writing read like you.
The TextPulse humanizer reworks AI-flavoured phrasing and rhythm across your draft while every citation, AI citations included, stays untouched. Tracked-changes view of every edit. Free demo included.