Generative Artificial Intelligence for Students

Until Valley College and the LACCD come up with comprehensive guidelines regarding student use of AI tools, your best bet for knowing when to use AI for college (and how to cite it) is to simply ask your instructor. Many instructors are now including AI guidelines in their syllabus, but if you don't see it there, you can always ask your instructor directly. 

If you have been falsely accused of cheating with AI, please refer to the information here. 

Keep in mind, as with all things related to AI, the norms and conventions for citing AI-generated content are likely to evolve over the next few years. For now, some of the major style guides have released preliminary guidelines, which we will outline below. 

For more information on citing generative AI, please refer to LAVC Library's MLA Guide and/or APA Guide. 

Note: for more detailed guidance on citing generative AI in MLA format, please refer to LAVC Library's MLA Guide.

MLA style is generally more flexible that either APA or Chicago style, so while they provide specific examples for citing commonly used AI tools, they encourage writers to adapt those guidelines to fit the situation. 

Hare are some other guidelines for referencing AI-generated content in MLA style:

• Cite the AI tool when you incorporate its output into your work. This includes direct quotations, images, and data, as well as paraphrased content.
• If you use an AI tool for some other purpose, such as translating, editing, or generating an outline, include a note about this somewhere in your paper.
• The MLA views AI-generated content as a source with no author, so you'll use the title of the source in your in-text citations, and in your works cited list. The title you choose should be a brief description of the AI-generated content, such as an abbreviated version of the prompt you used. 
• If you create a shareable link to the chat transcript, include that instead of the tool's URL.

Format:
"Description of chat" prompt. Name of AI tool, version of AI tool, Company, Date of chat, URL.

Example: 

"Examples of harm reduction initiatives" prompt. ChatGPT, 23 Mar. version, OpenAI, 4 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

In-Text Citation Example:

("Examples of harm reduction")

Source: Brown University Library / How Do I Cite Generative AI in MLA Style? (updated and revised) (Released March 17, 2023, updated in 2025)

Note: for more detailed guidance on citing generative AI in APA format, please refer to LAVC Library's APA Guide.

In general, APA Style references for generative AI follow the author–date–title–source format used in most APA references. Include a reference and in-text citation for a specific AI chat foremostly when doing so will be helpful for readers.

Here is a reference template for a specific AI chat:

Format:

AI Company Name. (year, month day). Title of chat in italics [Description, such as Generative AI chat]. Tool Name/Model. URL of the chat

Example:

OpenAI. (2025, August 21). High school grammar concepts [Generative AI chat]. ChatGPT. https://chatgpt.com/share/68a77b60-0ee4-800c-9acc-cd3fd573c311

In-Text Citation Example:

(OpenAI, 2025)

Source: Citing generative AI in APA Style (Released September 9, 2025)

Chicago Manual of Style, Citing Content Developed or Generated by Artificial Intelligence (Released in spring 2023)

Chicago style requires that you cite AI-generated content in your work by including either a note or a parenthetical citation, but advises you not to include that source in your bibliography or reference list.  The reason given for this is that, because you cannot provide a link to the conversation or session with the AI tool, you should tread that content as you would a phone call or private conversation. However, AI tools are starting to introduce functionality that does allow a user to generate a sharable link to a chat conversation, so this guidance from the Chicago Manual of Style may change. 

Here are some general guidelines for referencing AI-generated content in Chicago style:

• Treat the AI tool as the author of the content.
• If possible, describe the prompt used to generate the content in the text, but if that approach doesn't work, you can include that information in a footnote or endnote.
• The date used in your citation will be the date the content was generated.

Format:
1. Author, Title, Publisher, Date, url for the tool.  

Example (if information about the prompt has been included within the text of your paper):

1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat. 

Example (including information about the prompt):

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

Source: Brown University Library