AMA Citation (11th Edition) Help

According to a strict reading of the AMA Manual of Style, AI programs should never appear in a reference list as an author or creator of content.

"Nonhuman artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies cannot be listed as authors because these technologies do not qualify for authorship." (quoted from AMA Manual, section 5.1.12).

Instead, AMA suggests that writers place an acknowledgement into the acknowledgement section of the manuscript or describe how AI was used in the methods section of the manuscript. Include the name of the AI model and describe how the information was used. Also, include the question or prompt and the date of use.

Examples:

In response to the question....., ChatGPT (May 9, 2024) gave the following response....

In a chat with ChatGPT on May 9, 2024..... 

The guidance from AMA might be difficult to apply in coursework where assignments do not include an acknowledgements or methods section.

Here are a couple of suggestions:

1. If your assignment does not require you to include a formal methods section, you could decide to include one anyway. You could describe all the methods used to create the assignment: searching for literature, using modeling software, collaboratively editing with a colleague, etc., alongside how you used AI, and which model you used.
2. Add a few sentences about your use of AI and the name of the AI program into another section of the assignment. If you used AI to generate ideas, perhaps this would fit into the introduction. If you used AI to edit the paper, it might fit in the conclusion. 

In the end, definitely acknowledge your use of AI somewhere in your assignment. If you are not sure how to best acknowledge it in your assignment you should check with your professor. 

1. When writing for a class, review the syllabus or speak with the faculty member to determine if you are allowed to use AI tools. If your faculty member or your program has a policy regarding AI, you will need to follow that policy. 
2. In general, always verify information and sources generated by AI tools. Be aware that AI has been known to generate false information and to cite non-existent sources. It is also important to note that AI-generated text mines intellectual property without giving credit to the source which raises ethical concerns.

For example, AI tools recognize that the pattern of a citation includes an author, article title, journal title, pages numbers, etc. When a tool creates a citation the components may be pulled from various places and may not belong together resulting in a non-existent source.

Try to find the full text. If you can’t find it, your professor won’t be able to either.

Verify the information from AI tools from trusted resources.

"ChatGPT cannot be an author," said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, PhD, MAS, editor-in-chief of JAMA and JAMA Network™. "Only humans take responsibility for what they publish. Only humans can talk about their conflicts of interest, can say, ‘Yes, I've looked through all of these citations.’ So our position is only humans can be authors."

"We took a position early on that this is a tool," Dr. Bibbins-Domingo said. "It's like any other tool. If you use a tool when you send us a paper, you should tell us you've used this tool."

Read more about AMA's position on why ChatGPT shouldn’t be listed as an author.