Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A methods statement: 'ChatGPT-4 was used to draft initial code for data cleaning; all code was reviewed and tested by the authors.'
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Listing 'ChatGPT' in the CRediT contributor list as 'Writing — original draft' (rejected practice)
Editorial commentary
Acknowledgement, not authorship, for AI is the convention — codified by ICMJE and COPE in 2023 — that AI tool use must be disclosed in the methods or acknowledgements section of a scholarly work rather than credited via the author byline or a CRediT contributor-role entry, because AI systems cannot satisfy authorship’s accountability requirements.
The two consequences of the rule
First, it forecloses any attempt to list an AI tool as a co-author or to assign it a CRediT role — authorship and CRediT roles both presuppose an entity capable of being held accountable and approving the final version, which an AI system, lacking legal personhood, cannot do. Second, and just as important, it does not let AI use go unmentioned: the rule requires that use be recorded transparently in a fixed, discoverable location within the work, even though that location is not the byline. Acknowledging a tool is not a lesser or optional substitute for disclosure — it is where disclosure is required to happen.
What acknowledgement does not do
Acknowledging an AI tool’s use does not transfer any responsibility to it. The human authors remain fully accountable for the accuracy and integrity of every part of the work the tool touched — see author responsibility for AI use. This distinguishes AI acknowledgement from acknowledging, say, a colleague who provided helpful comments: the AI acknowledgement carries a compliance function (transparency about a specific tool’s involvement) that a courtesy acknowledgement does not.
Sources
ICMJE Recommendations (2023 update); COPE Position Statement, “Authorship and AI Tools” (13 February 2023).
Also known as
AI acknowledgement convention
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Acknowledgement (vs authorship for AI)"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/acknowledgement-vs-authorship-for-ai" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/acknowledgement-vs-authorship-for-ai",
"name": "Acknowledgement (vs authorship for AI)",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/acknowledgement-vs-authorship-for-ai",
"description": "The convention, codified by ICMJE and COPE (2023), that AI tool use must be disclosed in the methods or acknowledgements section of a scholarly work rather than via the author byline or CRediT contributor list, because AI cannot satisfy authorship's accountability requirements.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/genai-disclosure#set",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/acknowledgement-vs-authorship-for-ai",
"sameAs": [
"AI acknowledgement convention"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"publisher": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
},
"author": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#editorial-team"
},
"datePublished": "2026-05-21T01:56:06",
"dateModified": "2026-08-22T14:39:27",
"inLanguage": "en-GB",
"isAccessibleForFree": true
}
