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Acknowledging and referencing how you have used Artificial intelligence (AI) for your assessment shows honesty, transparency, and respect for the work of others.
Acknowledging or referencing how you use AI:
Watch Acknowledging and referencing AI use (YouTube, 1m 27s).
By acknowledging or referencing AI use, you’re following UQ’s rules for using AI in assessment and maintaining academic integrity. This helps enhance the trust in our degrees, ensures an equal opportunity for all students, and supports the positive reputation of your UQ education.
Incorrect use or overuse of AI in your assessments can have other consequences like:
Acknowledgement is where you describe how you used AI in your assessment. It could be a:
Referencing is where you follow a specific referencing style e.g. APA and include your AI use as in-text references or footnotes and in a reference list in your work.
You might be required to use one or both methods in your assessment.
Different disciplines may have different requirements for acknowledging the use of AI.
If you use AI in an assessment, you must follow the instructions in your course profile. It will have guidance on how to acknowledge use of AI in your assessments, for example, an assignment coversheet. If unsure, check with your course coordinator.
Acknowledge AI use has detailed guidance on how to acknowledge your use of AI.
Acknowledge AI by identifying what tools you used and what you used them for.
How you acknowledge the use of AI will depend on the context.
Example acknowledgement for different uses of AI:
| Use | Acknowledgement example |
|---|---|
| You used ChatGPT to help write a discussion board post | Add the statement, “ChatGPT was used to refine this post”, to the end of the post. |
| You used Adobe Firefly to create an image | Add a caption to the image, "Image generated with Adobe Firefly". |
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You used:
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Use the cover sheet or template provided by your course coordinator to detail your AI use. |
If your course coordinator does not provide a cover sheet, you can use a table like this to describe your AI use.
| Tool | Use | Prompts | Section | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT 4o | Initial idea generation that I adapted | Brainstorm ideas around how sustainable development goals can be applied locally | Framework on p 18 | 6 January 2025 |
| Claude 3.5 | Generating a draft conclusion that I adapted | Provide a summary of Chapters 3, 4, and 5 | Conclusions (p 30, 31) | 10 January 2025 |
| Grammarly EDU | Used to check spelling and grammar and edit my final document | Enhance my text to improve clarity and expression | Entire work | 14 January 2025 |
| Microsoft Copilot | Used to modify the written tone/style of the introduction | Rewrite this paragraph so that the tone is appropriate for a university assignment | Introduction (p 2) | 14 January 2025 |
| Microsoft Copilot | Generating images for analysis | Create an image of a highly effective suburban park | Introduction (p 1) | 28 March 2025 |
The UQ Library maintains an up-to-date guide on citing machine translation to acknowledge your use of machine translation tools in your assessment.
Always check your course profile about acknowledging AI. If you are still unsure, ask your course coordinator.
If your assessment requires the use of AI tools to be cited (referenced), you must reference all the content from AI tools that you include in the referencing style used in your course.
Note: Where the AI output includes sources, it is recommended that you access and cite these directly rather than citing the AI output itself.
| Format | Example |
|---|---|
| In-text reference (citation) | 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 specialised, “the notation that people can be characterised as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023). |
| Reference list | OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat |
| Format | Example |
|---|---|
| In-text reference (citation) | The following prompt in Microsoft Copilot, "What will it take to achieve the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals by 2023?", generated the response that it is a "complex and ambitious task" (Microsoft, 2025). |
| Reference list | Microsoft. (2025). Copilot [Large language model]. https://copilot.cloud.microsoft/ |
Read more about how to cite AI in APA.
Each referencing style will have information specific to citing AI. The UQ Library maintains an up-to-date guide on how to cite or reference AI in assessments with examples for different styles used at UQ, including: