The MLA Style Guide has released guidance on citation for AI generated content, including images. In MLA format, images used in text should include a caption.
For AI generated images, the caption should include a description of the prompt, followed by the AI tool, version, and date created.
Prompt/Description, AI tool, Version, Publisher (of the AI tool), Date, URL.
“Pointillist painting of a sheep in a sunny field of blue flowers” prompt, DALL-E, version 2, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, labs.openai.com/.
“Generate an image of bigfoot reading a book” prompt, Microsoft Copilot, DALL-E version 3, Microsoft & OpenAI, 28 April 2025, copilot.cloud.microsoft/.
APA has not shared official guidance on citing AI generated images. APA guidelines on citing images and citing generative AI should both be followed.
Last Name, Initials. (Year). Image title or description [Image format]. Website name. URL
Author/Developer. (Year). Model name (Version) [Large language model]. URL
Microsoft Copilot & OpenAI. (2025). DALL-E (Version 3) [AI image generator]. copilot.cloud.microsoft/