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Artificial Intelligence and Information Literacy

Citing AI-Generated Images

If you're referencing or including an AI-generated image in your papers, you should include information about how it was generated. This is also required for human-created artwork and some human-created photographs. In most citation styles, you don't need to include the reference in the works cited page, only as a caption for the image.

IMPORTANT: It is suggested a URL to the AI-generated image be included in the citation. However, these URLs may decay or may not work after you close your session. You should always save a copy of your image for preservation. Additionally, if you need a permanent link, you can save a snapshot of the created image and use a web-archiving service like the Wayback Machine to preserve the page and use the Wayback machine URL as your permanent URL (see the APA citation below for an example).

Here are examples of citing AI-generated images in MLA, APA and Chicago/Turabian styles.

MLA Style

Fig. 1. “A version of Old Main building at Wayne State University in the style of the film Bladerunner” prompt, Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI, 1 Aug. 2024, https://copilot.microsoft.com/sl/fLxMwgcRhZc 

APA Style

Note. Image generated using the prompt "Create a futuristic image of Old Main Building Wayne State University Detroit," by Microsoft Copilot, 2024 (https://copilot.microsoft.com/).

Chicago/Turabian Style

Microsoft Copilot. Response to “Create an image of Old Main Building at Wayne State University Detroit in the Style of Hogwarts" Microsoft. August 1, 2024. https://copilot.microsoft.com/images/create 

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, AI-generated images should be cited like any other image using a footnote, not a bibliography citation. The prompt does not need to be included in the footnote if it has already been included in the text.

More help with referencing and citing AI created images

Wayne State University Libraries Guide to Citing AI Tools

This guide from University of Victoria details how to cite AI-generated images, including image examples, in MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian styles.