Using images, tables & other visual material in your work

It should always be clear to your readers which parts of your work have been created by AI.

Any figure you generate using AI should have a declaration saying so in the caption. The declaration is presented in [square brackets] and is placed after the title/ description and before the citation, if they exist. For example:

Figure 6. Artist's impression of proposed new building [AI-generated]. (Microsoft, 2025).

It is also good practice to say which AI you used to generate the figure.  AI-generated figures will often have a citation and/ or rights attribution, which will provide this information. If there is no citation or abstract, then you can add this information to the AI declaration.

It is always a good idea to let your readers know what software you have used in both your academic and professional work, whether it is AI or not. In the case of AI, this can help avoid accusation of plagiarism: but knowing which software tools you have used helps others replicate your work or identify potential errors around using that software tool.

Adapting and translating with AI

You should also declare if you have used AI to adapt, translate, process or otherwise modify an existing figure. As the citation or attribution will usually only refer to the original source rather than the AI you have used, this will mean adding a declaration in [square brackets] after the title or description.

You should always make it clear to your reader when you have adapted or altered a figure in any way. There is more information on adapting figures here.

Declaring AI use in unusual assignments

Some specialist assignments may not fit the usual formats, and don't use captions. In these assignments, you should still make it clear which, if any, parts of the assignment were generated by AI: but you have more freedom to develop a bespoke method to do this which better fits your assignment.

We are hoping to create a new guide with more information and suggestions about how to do this. In the meantime, you can contact the Library for more support.

Figures created by AI never count as original figures, even if you provided the prompts. This means they will need a citation and/ or a rights attribution where applicable.

It is also always a good idea to check the terms and conditions of an AI you use to generate figures to see what property rights apply to what it generates. Some AIs will let you freely re-use material they generate; others may apply more restrictive property rights such as copyright to what they produce. This may limit what you can do with the AI, particular outside your assessed assignments. 

If you use an AI to create a figure, you need to reference the AI. 

However, if you base (not copy!) a figure on information or an existing figure in another source, then you also need to reference that source. This can leave you with two citations and references for the same figure!

Under these circumstances, you have two references in your reference list: one for the AI, one for the source of the existing source. You then add a special citation that includes both the AI and the source, and makes the relationship between them clear. Examples might be:

(Name of AI creator or company, Year. Based on Author of source, Year)
(Name of AI creator or company, Year. After Author of source, Year)