how to cite ChatGPT in APA 7 and MLA 9.

APA's widely copied ChatGPT format is retired. The archived APA page now leads with this banner:

You can read that banner on the archived APA page. The entry below appears only to identify the retired format, not as a pattern to use now.

MLA's March 2023 post was also superseded by its August 2025 revision. The current formats below were checked against the linked primary sources on August 5, 2026.

APA 7 now separates a specific, shareable chat from the AI tool. The two references use different dates and different descriptive details.

AI chat

AI tool

For a chat, use “the specific year, month, and day on which a chat occurred or concluded.” For the tool, use “the year in which the AI tool was most recently updated.” APA's student tip is direct: “If you are unsure of the date, ask the AI.”

1. 01Name the company
   APA says, “The author is the company responsible for developing the AI tool.” Its reason is that “AI itself cannot be an author because it is not a living, conscious human who can give consent.”
2. 02Use the model name
   APA says, “we no longer advise including the version number in every AI reference by default.” Use the model name, such as “ChatGPT” or “ChatGPT-5”.
3. 03Keep prompts out of the reference
   APA says, “prompts can be described in the text, but they are not included in the reference.”
4. 04Put an important long prompt elsewhere
   “If the prompt is important, it's better to include it in full in the Method section or another appropriate spot such as an appendix.”

APA rejects the personal-communication treatment because “with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating.” When AI is used as a search engine, APA says “it is in most cases not necessary to cite AI at all”; cite the underlying sources instead.

MLA says, “We do not recommend treating the AI tool as an author.” Its entry starts with a description of the prompt, followed by the tool, the model, the company, the date, and the stable share URL.

MLA says to “Name the specific AI model or model version as specifically as possible” and to “Give the stable, shareable URL for accessing the generated content.” It also says to “acknowledge all functional uses of the tool (like editing your prose or translating words) in a note, your text, or another suitable location.”

When an AI response points to secondary sources, MLA says, “we recommend directly consulting and citing the sources that the AI links to instead of the AI response.”

Use the citation generator to assemble the entry, then use the source checker to inspect the details. Compare the result with the current APA or MLA page linked below, especially when a model or guidance page has changed.