To Cite or Not to Cite AI

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Wondering whether you need to disclose when AI helped you write a blog, email, or proposal? You’re not alone—and this episode is your permission slip to stop second-guessing.

In this solo milestone episode, I (Kendra Corman) explore one of the most common questions I get from clients and students: “Do I have to cite AI if I used it to write something?”

As someone who’s been ghostwriting for decades and now leans on AI to streamline my work (without letting it take over), I break down when to cite, when not to, and why the intent behind your prompt matters more than the tool itself.

We cover:

🎯 When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Cite AI
• Why using AI doesn’t automatically mean you need to disclose it
• The ghostwriting comparison that changes how you see AI tools
• How to know if your prompt makes you the author—or the machine
• What style guides like APA and Chicago actually say about AI

✍️ Using AI Ethically Without Losing Your Voice
• The difference between AI-generated and AI-assisted content
• Real examples of detailed prompts vs. generic outputs
• Why editing and injecting your experiences is everything
• Why AI is like a really good intern—if you’re the boss

🔍 Avoiding Plagiarism and Building Credibility
• The plagiarism pitfalls of lazy prompts
• How to check and edit outputs so they reflect your expertise
• Why it’s okay to use AI—but not okay to fake originality
• How to frame AI as your partner, not your replacement

💬 The Big Takeaway
Whether you're writing proposals, content, or emails—your thoughts, stories, and strategy matter most. If AI is just helping you organize and phrase things more clearly, you likely don’t need to cite it. But if it's doing the thinking for you? That’s when transparency counts.

“AI helps express your thoughts better. But if it is your thoughts? Then give it credit.” – Kendra Corman

🛠 If you’re tired of worrying about whether you’re ‘doing it right’ with AI, this episode offers clarity, confidence, and a practical way to move forward—without sacrificing your voice or your values.

🎧 Listen now and decide for yourself: Are you Team Citation… or Team ‘Typing Buddy with Benefits’?

📬 Connect with me:
Website: https://kendracorman.com
Email: [e-mail]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendracorman/

Looking to leverage AI? Want better results? Want to think about what you want to leverage?

Check and see how I am using it for FREE on YouTube.

From "Holy cow, it can do that?" to "Wait, how does this work again?" – I've got all your AI curiosities covered. It's the perfect after-podcast snack for your tech-hungry brain.

Watch here

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Kendra Korman .
If you're a coach, consultantor marketer, you know marketing
is far from a perfect scienceand that's why this show is
called Imperfect Marketing.
Join me and my guests as weexplore how to grow your
business with marketing tips and, of course, lessons learned
along the way.
Hello and welcome to episode300 of Imperfect Marketing.

(00:34):
I am super excited to be yourhost, kendra Korman, and I am so
excited that you have joined mein this journey, whether this
is your first episode or your300th.
Thank you so much for tuning inand thank you so much also all
along for the feedback and theinspiration that has kept me
going, hopefully giving you verygood, helpful tips along the
way.

(00:54):
Today we're going to be talkingabout a question I have been
getting a lot, and that is tocite or not to cite AI.
Do you have to say AI did it?
Did you have to say that thisrobot helped me write what this
is?
And I think it's pretty cut anddry and it just depends on how
much the AI did for you.
For years I have ghostwrittenblogs, white papers, press

(01:21):
releases, quotes, things likethat Probably decades, if we
want to get specific, andthere's no citation that the
wonderful writing wizardry ofKendrick Horman assisted in
writing this piece, even thoughthere probably should be, and so
I didn't get credit.
What's the difference?

(01:42):
If AI is my ghostwriter?
This is what I think.
I think it's again it's howmuch did the AI do?
Did the AI do your job?
Did it come up with the ideasand write them?
Was your prompt, super generic,of give me a blog post about
the pros and cons of pizza?
Did you change three commas onthe output, or change the dashes

(02:03):
to commas on the output andcall it a day?
Is it giving you facts andfigures and you're just saying
I'm sure that that's correct,then I would cite it.
I would say that you need tosay that AI generated that.
But if you're doing AI-assistedcontent writing, not AI
generated right, you're givingit your ideas, your thoughts,

(02:26):
your examples, your experiencesthen you're the brains behind
the operation and then I don'tthink you need to cite it as
much.
If it's just a typing buddywith benefits, right.
If you've rewritten, remixedand injected your personality
into it, I don't think you needto cite it.
And if you're using it like athesaurus that actually just
understands what you mean, itspeaks.

(02:47):
You know fluent Kendra, which,thank goodness for me, it does
actually speak fluent Kendra,which can sometimes be a foreign
language.
I think that's when you don'thave to cite it.
Now I got some other questionsat a recent AI training that I
did, which was well.
Ai plagiarizes a lot.
I haven't caught itplagiarizing in a long time.

(03:10):
I think the more generic yourprompt is, again, the less work
that you're doing, the higherlikelihood that you could
potentially have some plagiarism.
But again, I think that's stuffthat you want to watch and be
careful of to make sure thatyou're injecting it with your
experiences, your insights andyour knowledge.
It's not coming up withanything new, so don't make it.

(03:33):
You can give it that.
You can give it yourexperiences and your information
.
Now, part of that wholeplagiarism thing is I'm adjunct
faculty at a local universityhere in Michigan and all of the
APA and Chicago styles andthings like that all have a way
to cite AI.
You can Google how to cite AIand it will tell you how to cite

(03:54):
AI.
Well, one of the citations Ifound was chat GPT response to
and then it's got in quotationsarticle explain how to make
pizza dough from commonhousehold ingredients Open AI
March 7th 2023, which no AI wasthere, okay, and then the link
to the chat for Open AI.
I think if you're writing thatsimple and that's your prompt,

(04:17):
then yeah, you need to cite it.
But if you're giving itdetailed instructions, if you're
being specific, if you'rebossing it around like there's
no tomorrow, you're making itwork for you and you're saying
something like take these sevenbullet points about email

(04:38):
marketing trends and draft aconversational intro paragraph
that mentions my dog, bernie,includes a subtle reference to
Taylor Swift's recent album ortour and insert more stuff here.
I don't really think you needto cite it.
That was your idea to mentionBernie and to mention Taylor

(05:01):
Swift and to the seven trendsthat you're seeing.
All of that is you.
All it's doing is organizingyour thoughts and putting it
into a little bit better thanthe stream of consciousness that
you probably typed it in thereas right, and I think that
that's okay.
And then, once you get theoutput, then you edit it right,

(05:23):
you review it, you make sureeverything is right and that it
sounds like you and that thereisn't anything of in today's
changing world, in today'sdynamic world, in today's you
know, whatever kind of worldit's going to have at the
beginning of your entire blogpost, like it seems to do almost
all the time.
Once you take that out right,it's more you and it's all your

(05:44):
work and it's all your thoughts.
Ai is helping you express yourthoughts better, more
effectively and efficiently.
I don't think that there'sanything wrong with that and I
don't think AI gets the creditin those cases.
But if it's doing all the work,then I think you need to give
it the credit.
Now, are you team citation orteam?

(06:06):
What AI doesn't know won't hurtit.
I'd love to know what you thinkon this.
Do you need to cite AI?
Now, I'm not saying hide thatyou're using AI.
You don't have to do that.
Everybody knows I use AI, right.
I mean, hopefully you do by now, because I talk about it all
the time and it saves me 30 to40 hours a week.
But my outputs and my inputsare all me and all edited by me,

(06:29):
and I don't just take any of itfor granted, just copy and
pasting out of any AI system.
So, again, you don't have tohide that you're leveraging AI.
But I also don't necessarilythink you need to cite it when
you're using AI the right wayand you're leveraging it to help
organize your thoughts andwrite your thoughts.

(06:51):
So, again, I'd love to hear whatyou're thinking about that.
Feel free to reach out to me atsupport at kendraormancom.
I'd love to know your you'rethinking about that.
Feel free to reach out to me atsupport at KendraCormancom.
I'd love to know your thoughtsand I encourage anybody who
disagrees with me to let me know, because I'd like to better
understand that otherperspective.
But if I'm doing 90% of thework and all it's doing is
organizing my thoughts andsaving me some time on that

(07:13):
first draft, it could be anintern right, and so I really
want you to think about that andthink about how you're
leveraging it as you moveforward.
Thank you so much for tuning into this milestone episode of
Imperfect Marketing.
I really appreciate you beinghere.
If you would help me out, I'dlove it if you would rate and

(07:35):
subscribe wherever you'relistening and watching.
Thank you so much and have agreat rest of your day.