LibGuides: A Guide to Good Referencing Skills: Cite AI-generated Images

Cite AI-generated Text Cite AI-generated Images Use of AI in Scholarly Publishing

Citing AI Tools & AI-generated Images

Respecting copyright laws and maintaining academic integrity are crucial when incorporating images into your work.

Similar to citing AI text, at present, most citation styles do not have clear guidelines for referencing AI-generated images. The following are some available guidelines or recommendations from a few citation styles.

APA
Chicago
MLA

APA style

Guideline from APA:

There is no official guideline on citing AI-generated images.
However, the APA Style blog How to cite ChatGPT (updated Feb 23, 2024), and their replies in the Comment section provides some general advice.

General advice:

Explain the methodology of how you used the AI tool in your work (e.g. the prompt you used)
To create the reference, follow the principles of citing AI-generated text to determine the author, date, title, and source elements for the tool.

Basic format:

Cite the image (in caption):

Figure X
Image title
[the image]
Note. Description (e.g. Image generated using XXX prompt, by XXX tool)

For reference format of citing figures or images in general, you may also refer to APA guidelines on citing Clip Art or Stock Image References, Artwork references, and Sample figures.

Cite the AI model:

Author/Developer. (Year). Name of AI tool (Version) [AI image generation model]. URL

Example:

Conversation with an AI image generation model

Caption, In-text citation & Reference list

Figure 1

Night View Skyline

Note. Image generated using the prompt "skyscraper buildings in Hong Kong, night view, oil painting," by Stability AI, Stable Diffusion XL, 2024 (https://poe.com/StableDiffusionXL).

In-text citation:

Figure 1 illustrates the intensity of Hong Kong's cityscape and its architectural character (Stability AI, 2024).

Reference list:

Stability AI. (2024). Stable Diffusion XL [AI image generation model]. https://poe.com/StableDiffusionXL

Chicago style

Guideline from Chicago:

Recommendations for Citing DALL-E - Chicago Style Blog
Follow the rules for general image citations: Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) ⇒ CMOS 3.29-3.37

General advice:

Include wordings such as "This image was created with the assistance of XXX (e.g. DALLE 2)"

Basic format:

The credit for that image might read as follows (with the prompt used to generate the image in quotation marks):

“Description of image,” image generated by XXX tool, Date.

Example:

Figure 1. “Skyscraper buildings in Hong Kong, night view, oil painting,” image generated by Stable Diffusion XL, 12 Aug 2024.

MLA style

Guideline from MLA:

How do I cite generative AI in MLA style ⇒ Example 3: Citing Creative Visual Works

General advice:

Create a caption for the AI-generated image in your work, following the MLA Handbook (Section 1.7 Tables and Illustrations)

Format:

Use a description of the prompt, followed by the AI tool, version, and date created.

Fig. X. “Prompt used to generate the image in quotation marks”, Name of AI tool, version, Provider, Creation date, URL.

Examples:

Fig. 1. “Skyscraper buildings in Hong Kong, night view, oil painting” prompt, Stable Diffusion XL, Stability AI, 12 Aug. 2024, https://poe.com/s/zzkRwosBd1rUZOiRMSFo

Fig. 2. “A cat holding a sign saying 'Typhoon no.8 is coming', photo, cinematic, sci-fi” prompt, Ideogram, version 1.0, 12 Aug. 2024, https://ideogram.ai/g/L9ZiRBUnRQKoz0YptS2qxA/0

Other helpful guides

Scholarly use of AI tools - Reference GenAI images - by University of Victoria Libraries (CC BY)
How Do I Cite Generative AI? - by McMaster University Libraries
Referencing AI-generated images - by RMIT Library
APA Citation Guide (APA 7th Edition): Artificial Intelligence - Image generated by an AI tool - by Seneca Polytechnic Libraries (CC BY-NC-SA)