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(Comprehensive Guide)

How To Reference And INTEXT Cite The University Of Nicosia Powerflow On Accelerate AI Chatbot And Other AI Chatbots In ‘APA-based’ Format In A Technologically Relevant And Up-to-date Way. 

There don’t appear to be any clear directions for APA referencing of AI chatbots, see https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples . There is however a blogpost on how to cite ChatGPT on this page, which many universities appear to cite as a reference source (https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt ); nonetheless, this doesn’t appear to be a formalised APA convention. 

This APA style sheet for referencing chatbots is based on two key suggestions for improvement:  

• If the chatbot version is not known, use the date the prompt was used in the reference; this is a logical and practicable solution for this issue. 
•  Arguably, the AI chatbot model (eg GPT-4, GPT-3.5 etc), if known, should also appear in the reference. 

Suggested APA referencing method for the University of Nicosia PowerFlow on Accelerate AI Chatbot  

University of Nicosia. (2023). PowerFlow on Accelerate (Version 0.12) [Large language model]. https://accelerate.unic.ac.cy/   

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Or, preferably with chatbot model, if known:

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University of Nicosia. (2023). PowerFlow on Accelerate (GPT-4 Turbo) (Version O.12) [Large language model]. https://accelerate.unic.ac.cy/  

 See the image below for an analysis:  

Chatgpt And Other AI Chatbots Could Be Referenced As Below If The Version Is Known

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (March 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat 

However, a more technologically relevant and up-to-date way of referencing Chatbots, such as those below in Table 1 is: (i) To add the model if known (eg GPT-4, GPT-3.5 etc); (ii) To make the date of the current version the date of the prompt output itself, if, that is, the date of the current version is not known or cannot be easily found. So, for example, if a person prompted Bard, Bing, ChatGPT, Claude etc on a particular date, the ‘version’ logically would be assumed to be the version on that particular ‘date’. Otherwise, students and faculty will likely find it very confusing and troublesome to create this part of the reference, as proposed for APA AI chatbot references on https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt. 

Suggested generic APA referencing methods for AI Chatbots

In example (a) below the version date is known (i.e. it is ‘March 14 version’)  

(a) OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (GPT-4) (March 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat  

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Or, optionally and possibly clearer, in example (b) below, the version date is not known, so the version will be the date of the prompt output, and this is written as ‘Version on March 14’:

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(b) OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (GPT-4) (Version on March 14) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat   

Table 1

Intext APA Citations

The first example below is of a “parenthetical citation” without a full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper. 

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023). 

[The prompt example above was taken from https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt]   

APA Reference (basic, without model and with a known model date) 

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (March 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

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Or, preferably:

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APA Reference (improved with model, and version date being the prompt date) 

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (GPT-4) (Version on March 14) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat 

Please note, when using a month with a specific date, abbreviate January (Jan.), February (Feb.), August (Aug.), September (Sept.), October (Oct.), November (Nov.), and December (Dec.). The other months (April, May, June, July, March) will still be spelled out, even when with a specific date. 

The second example below is of a “parenthetical citation” with a full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper. 

You may also provide the whole text of long ChatGPT replies as an appendix to your article or as online additional materials, so readers can see the actual text that was created. Because ChatGPT generates a unique answer in each chat session, even when given the same question, it is critical to capture the precise text written. Remember that each appendix or extra material should be mentioned at least once in the body of your APA Style work. 

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript). [The prompt example above was taken from https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt]   

APA Reference (improved with model and version date being the prompt date) 

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (GPT-4) (Version on March 14) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat 

Examples of APA Intext Citing of Powerflow on Accelerate

EXAMPLE 1. Parenthetical citation without a full text of long responses from PowerFlow on Accelerate in an appendix of your paper. 

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the PowerFlow On Accelerate-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (University of Nicosia, 2023). 

EXAMPLE 2. Parenthetical citation with a full text of long responses from PowerFlow on Accelerate in an appendix of your paper. 

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the PowerFlow On Accelerate-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (University of Nicosia, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript). 

APA Referencing for both of the above:

APA Reference (basic, without model and with a known model date) 

University of Nicosia. (2023). PowerFlow on Accelerate (Version 0.12) [Large language model]. https://accelerate.unic.ac.cy/  

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Or

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APA Reference (improved with model and version date being the prompt date) 

University of Nicosia. (2023). PowerFlow on Accelerate (GPT-4 Turbo) (Version 0.1.2) [Large language model]. https://accelerate.unic.ac.cy/  

Here is an example of a narrative citation for PowerFlow on Accelerate: 

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” OpenAI (2023) generated text indicating that “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth”.