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Updated . Example details checked against The MLA Style Center, "How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?" (its own example).
The MLA format
Pattern
“Description of the prompt” prompt. Name of AI Tool, version, Company, Day Month Year, URL.
- No author. MLA does not treat the tool as an author.
- Title: your prompt, or a description of it, in quotation marks, followed by the word “prompt.”
- Version as the tool shows it, then the company as publisher.
- Date you got the response, and the URL of the tool or of a shared chat.
This is the MLA Style Center’s own example, run through Format’s formatter.
A real example
Works Cited entry
“Describe the symbolism of the green light in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald” prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.
In-text citation
(“Describe the symbolism”)
When details are missing
- No version shown: leave it out.
- No shareable link: use the tool’s general URL.
- Images from AI: describe what you asked for: “Pointillist painting of a sheep in a sunny field” prompt.
Common mistakes
- ChatGPT as author. MLA starts with the prompt description, not the tool.
- No mention in your text. Say in your sentence that the words came from an AI tool, and check your course policy first.
Or let Format do it.
Choose AI-generated content and fill in your prompt, the tool, its version, the company, the date and the link to the chat if you shared it. Format writes the Works Cited entry and the in-text citation in MLA 9, exactly as shown above, and builds the Works Cited page when you export to Word or PDF. MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Do I quote the AI’s answer?
Quote or paraphrase it like any source, and make clear in the sentence that an AI tool produced it.
Can I cite AI as a factual source?
MLA advises checking its claims against the sources it draws on, and citing those sources.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in MLA
Every source kind is on the MLA page, and every style is on How to cite.