Using AI responsibly
“What should I say about AI use in my paper?”
Copy-and-adapt disclosure sentences, matched to what you actually did.
You used an AI tool somewhere in the work, and now a form or a reviewer wants a disclosure, but you have seen articles warning against AI use and you are not sure what is safe to write. The honest answer is a short, specific sentence. Here are four you can adapt.
“How do I use GPT Chat to write my dissertation effectively without any problems? I found a number of articles advising against using it…” — a student, unsure what is acceptable
The problemYou know what you did. You don’t know how to say it.
Disclosure anxiety is rarely about the AI use itself. Brainstorming with a model, or asking it to tighten a paragraph, is now routine and permitted by most journals. It is about the wording. Say too little (“AI was used”) and it reads as evasive; say it wrong and you worry it sounds like the AI wrote the paper. The answer is one plain sentence describing the specific task, matched to what happened.
That precision protects you. “AI was used in the preparation of this manuscript” tells a reader nothing and invites suspicion of everything. A statement that names the tool, the version, the task, and the human who reviewed the output closes the question instead of opening it, and if it matches your records there is nothing to unravel later.
Common mistakesFour disclosures that cause trouble
- “AI was used.” No tool, no task, no version. It is a shrug, and reviewers read it as one.
- Over-disclosing trivial edits. A grammar checker usually does not need a paragraph. Know your venue’s threshold; do not manufacture a problem.
- Listing AI as an author. Every major guideline says a tool cannot be an author, because it cannot take responsibility. Disclose its use; do not credit it.
- A disclosure that does not match your records. If you write “editing only” but the tool drafted a section, the mismatch is the risk, not the AI.
What to nameFour things, every time
Disclose when a generative tool touched the content or the analysis: brainstorming, drafting, summarising sources, editing beyond a spell-check, or any step in your data analysis. Policies vary, so check the target venue, but a good statement always names the tool and version, the task it did, the stage at which you used it, and the human review that followed. That last part carries the weight, because it records that a person, not the model, made the decisions.
Worked exampleFour statements to adapt
Match one to what you actually did
If you only brainstormed with a model, one sentence covers it: “During the early planning of this study, ChatGPT (GPT-4o, OpenAI) was used to generate and refine candidate research questions. All questions were assessed and selected by the authors, who take full responsibility for the study design.”
If it drafted text you then rewrote: “Generative AI (Claude, Anthropic) was used to produce initial drafts of the introduction, which the authors then substantially rewrote, fact-checked, and referenced. The authors are responsible for all content.”
For editing only: “A large language model (GPT-4o, OpenAI) was used to improve the clarity and grammar of author-written text. No content or citations were generated by the tool.”
For analysis support: “A local language model assisted first-cycle coding of interview transcripts. Every suggested code was reviewed, accepted, or rejected by the authors, and the decisions were recorded. Interpretation and theme development were carried out by the authors.”
Swap in your own tool and task; drop the rest.
ChecklistAssemble yours
Four checks before you paste it in
- Name the tool and version, and the task (brainstorm, draft, edit, summarise, or analyse).
- Name the stage where you used it, and who reviewed the output.
- Check the target venue’s current AI policy for placement and threshold.
- Confirm no tool is listed as an author, and that the statement matches your own record.
Related guidesRead next
Further readingOld sources worth your time
- ICMJE, Recommendations on AI-assisted technology. icmje.org.
- COPE, Authorship and AI tools. publicationethics.org.
Recommended tool · the next step
AI Disclosure Kit
Assemble the disclosure sentence for your journal from what you actually did. The AI Disclosure Kit keeps your AI-use records, disclosure text, and each venue’s requirements together, and gives you the wording to check and adapt before submission.
See the AI Disclosure Kit · €29 →