Subject Guides: Artificial Intelligence (AI): Citing AI Image Content

APA Style Citing AI-Created Image Content

Your instructor may provide detailed guidelines for including AI-generated images in your assignment. If not, check the suggestions below:

Describe how you used the tool in your Method section or Introduction
Provide the prompt you used in the Note under the Figure (image)
When including a specific image, then include a reference list entry for the in-text image

For example, your Method or Introduction could include a general acknowledgement such as:

I acknowledge the use of DALL-E by OpenAI (https://openai.com/index/dall-e-3/) to help me create images suitable for my paper on the topic of depicting toy animals behaving as humans.

See the References List & In-text Citations tabs above when citing specific images in your paper.

TEMPLATE:

Author of Model. (Year of version). Name of model in italics (Version number if available) [Descriptor]. https://source_address

Note: in the examples below, Example 1 treats DALL-E 2 as "Version 2" whereas Example 2 treats the "3" in DALL-E 3 as part of the title/name of model. Until there is more consensus in this evolving field, either may be used.

EXAMPLE 1 (see teddy bear image on the in-text citation tab)

OpenAI. (2023). DALL-E (Version 2) [Artificial intelligence system]. https://openai.com/dall-e-2

EXAMPLE 2 (prompt in DALL-E 3: "cat on a bicycle")

OpenAI. (2025). DALL-E 3 [Artificial intelligence system]. https://openai.com/index/dall-e-3/

Notes:

Author: The author of the model (tool)
Date: Year of the version used
Title: The name of the model (tool)
Version number: Version of the model/tool used (if available); version number may be incorporated into the title
Additional description: Using bracketed text, provide extra information to help a reader understand what is being cited. Different versions and software or models from various companies may need different descriptions, based on how the company describe the model
Link: Use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (the page where you can access the software, not the company's homepage)

To provide an in-text citation for a specific image, you have two options:

In DALL-E, using the prompt "a photo of a teddy bear on a skateboard in Times Square," the photograph generated in Figure 1 was created (OpenAI, 2023).

Figure 1 depicts the image generated by the prompt "a photo of a teddy bear on a skateboard in Times Square" (OpenAI, 2023).

Adding an AI-generated image in your paper

In APA, a figure (image) may be either:

1) embedded in the text after it is first mentioned (“called out”); OR
2) placed on a separate page after the reference list.

If embedded in the text, place the figure at either the top or bottom of the page rather than in the middle. The figure should be left-aligned, not centred.

If you have more than one figure and you choose to include them after the reference list, then each figure should be on a separate page, left-aligned, formatted as the figure of the teddy bear on the right.

Provide the following information:

Figure number
Figure/image Title
Note. Below the image provide details about the prompt and the source
Reference list entry starts with Author (e.g. OpenAI)

Figure 1

Teddy Bear on a Skateboard

Note. Image generated using the prompt "A photo of a teddy bear on a skateboard in Times Square," by OpenAI, DALL-E, 2023 (https://openai.com/dall-e-2)

Reference list entry

OpenAI. (2023). DALL-E (Version 2) [Artificial intelligence system]. https://openai.com/dall-e-2

OpenAI. 2023). DALL-E 2 [Artificial Intelligence system]. https://openai.com/dall-e-2

Remember, in-text citation formatting may change depending on a number of factors.

See Number of Authors, Publication Date, and Page/Paragraph Number or Heading for more information.