APA Referencing and whakapapa for Generative AI
Recording the whakapapa of how you have used Generative AI is often seen as essential for academic research, and from a Te Ao Māori perspective it recognises the whakapapa of the content you are writing about.
In a spread sheet or a journal use the following headings and add your thoughts.
- Reference Number
- Date AI Tool Used (Full version details)
- What aspect of your work did you use it for? (eg Brainstorming, Evidence Review, clarity of ideas)
- The complete prompt(s)
- Output of the prompt(s)
- If you did the same prompt at a later date, add the date and the latest output
- How did you fact/bias check the outputs?
- Any generated issues such as misinformation or hallucinations
- How did you ensure your use of AI was Safe, Tikanga appropriate, Ethical and Responsible?
- How did using the AI tool contribute to your learning?
- Personal Reflections if any?
APA
This advice follows the APA Style team’s September 2025 guidance on citing generative AI. That guidance replaced APA’s earlier format. Under it, a shareable AI chat gets a full reference, and AI output is no longer treated as a personal communication.
General Use of an AI Tool
Use this when you only need to acknowledge the tool, for example when you used AI to edit or translate your own writing, write code, or create tables or figures. Also use it when AI is part of your research method and citing individual chats could compromise participant confidentiality.
In-text: (Developer, Year) or Developer (Year) states that …
Reference: Developer. (Year). Tool name [Description, e.g., Large language model]. URL
Example: OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/
The developer is the author, so there is no separate publisher. For the year, use the year the tool was most recently updated, or the copyright year on its website if you are unsure.
A Specific Conversation
Use this when pointing readers to the exact exchange will help them. The chat must have a shareable link.
In-text: (Developer, Year)
Reference: Developer. (Year, Month Day). Title of chat [Generative AI chat]. Tool name or model. Share URL
Example: OpenAI. (2025, September 5). Defining Māori data sovereignty [Generative AI chat]. ChatGPT. https://chatgpt.com/share/[link]
- Rename the chat to something descriptive before you cite it.
- Describe your prompt in your text, not in the reference.
- If the chat cannot be shared, or sharing it would expose participant or Māori data, cite the tool generally and describe the prompt in your text or an appendix.
Why Not Personal Communication?
Many older guides cite AI chats as personal communications, with an in-text citation only. APA does not support this. Personal communications are for non retrievable exchanges with a person, and with an AI tool there is no person communicating.
Quoting AI Output
Quote the output as you would any other source, say what you asked, and cite the developer. If the response is long, put the full prompt and response in an appendix.
Example: I asked ChatGPT to define Māori data sovereignty (OpenAI, 2025). It replied: “Māori data sovereignty is …”
Multiple AI Tools
List each tool in the reference list. In the text, cite them together in alphabetical order, separated by semicolons.
In-text: (Anthropic, 2025; OpenAI, 2025)
Reference: Anthropic. (2025). Claude [Large language model]. https://claude.ai/
Reference: OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/
References
McAdoo, T. (2023, April 7). How to cite ChatGPT. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt
McAdoo, T., Denneny, S., & Lee, C. (2025, September 9). Citing generative AI in APA Style: Part 1—Reference formats. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/cite-generative-ai-references