LibGuides: Citing AI tools: Saving AI content for replication and citations

Recording or archiving AI-generated content

Authors citing AI tools in their work should consider creating archived copies of the AI output.

Creating persistent URLs that link to archived copies of AI-generated content enables easy sharing in references of published works.
AI-generated content can be saved or archived as a document, image, or webpage.

Even with an archived copy, keep in mind the content may not be verifiable or reproducible because it will be affected by many factors, such as how many times a model had to be prompted to produce a specific answer, whether the output was impacted by server issues, or if an author influenced the output through feedback features present in some AI tools.

Linking to AI output

AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and BingAI have features that generate links that allow users to share their conversations. These links may not be reliable, so authors may choose to use products like A.I. Archives, ShareGPT, or PermaCC to share persistent links. Find more information about generative AI tools available at MIT here: https://ist.mit.edu/ai-tools

Microsoft Copilot
Formerly known as Bing AI or Bing Chat, Microsoft Copilot currently does not provide the means for archiving your chats. Users may still download a file containing the text from their chats, but this file will be missing essential metadata, such as the date of your chat, and if your chat involved a sequence of prompts, you will only be able to export the latest part of your chat.
Gemini
Gemini (by Google/Alphabet) allows users to share chats or single prompts using links. However, users with a work or school account with the Gemini for Google Workspace add-on can’t share chats.
ChatGPT
Users can create links to entire chats, which also include the date it was created. These saved chats do not contain the name of the user who created the chat. The "Copy link" feature in ChatGPT has shown to be unstable at times, so relying on another means for saving your AI conversation might be best.
FAQ: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7925741-chatgpt-shared-links-faq

Note: the ChatGPT "Archive" feature does not enable the sharing of chats through links but rather exists to unclutter users' interface. Archived chats can be found in the settings menu.
A.I. Archives example
A.I. Archives is a Google Chrome browser extension that generates unique URLs for conversations with ChatGPT, Bard, or Claude, and lets users share their conversations publicly on the A.I. Archives website. A.I. Archives links contain the tool name, query, date of query, unique ID for archived document, and profile photo or initial of person who queried.
ShareGPT example
ShareGPT is a Google Chrome browser extension for archiving ChatGPT conversations. The tool generates shareable unique URLs for users’ conversations with ChatGPT. The contains the query or queries, the icon for the AI tool used to query, and the profile photo or initial of the person who queried. It does not contain the date or time of th query.
Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine example
The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine’s “Save Page Now” feature allows users to publicly archive webpages using their URLs. As of October 2023, the Wayback Machine can save ChatGPT conversations using the sharing links it generates, even if a user deletes their original ChatGPT conversation.
Perma.cc example
Perma.cc preserves the content of web pages as they existed at the time the Perma.cc link was created. Perma.cc makes a copy of the target web page, deposits it into the Perma.cc collection, and returns a unique, citable URL that points to the preserved record. As of February 2024, Perma.cc is able to successfully save the content of ChatGPT conversations using the shareable links provided by ChatGPT, even if the original conversation was later deleted by a user. MIT affiliates can use Perma.cc for free. See the Citation Management and Writing Tools guide from MIT Libraries for more information about this tool.