EU designates ChatGPT a Very Large Search Engine under DSA | AI Weekly
EU designates ChatGPT a Very Large Search Engine under DSA | AI Weekly
摘要: euronews.com
web signal
EU designates ChatGPT a Very Large Search Engine under DSA
Alexis Dufresne
Published
August 31, 2026 at 10:58 UTC
正文
euronews.com
web signal
EU designates ChatGPT a Very Large Search Engine under DSA
Alexis Dufresne
Published
August 31, 2026 at 10:58 UTC
September 1, 2026 at 11:17 UTC
sources tracking this story
Regulation
EU AI Act
ai-business
ChatGPT reported approximately 159.1 million average monthly EU users, more than triple the 45 million designation threshold, meaning the Commission acted well after OpenAI's EU scale was beyond doubt.
The VLOSE classification turns on ChatGPT's live web-search function, not its AI product category, giving regulators a capability-based template to extend to Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity as they scale.
Platforms have until December 2026 to comply; non-compliance risks fines up to 6% of global annual turnover, with the X/Twitter precedent of a 120 million euro fine in December 2025 as the enforcement baseline.
The European Commission has designated ChatGPT a Very Large Online Search Engine under the Digital Services Act, making OpenAI's chatbot the first standalone AI service brought under the bloc's toughest platform rules. Reddit and Roblox were added the same day as Very Large Online Platforms,
Euronews reported
.
All three crossed the 45 million monthly EU user threshold that triggers direct Commission oversight. ChatGPT reported 159 million monthly active users over the six-month period ending March 2026; Reddit reported 57.2 million; Roblox roughly 48 million.
The Commission classified ChatGPT as a "hybrid service" that qualifies as an online search engine "because it can engage with and respond to users' prompts and queries, including by searching the web." The three companies have four months, until the end of November, to conduct annual systemic risk assessments covering illegal content, minor protection, mental and physical wellbeing, fundamental rights, electoral processes and public security, submit to independent audits, and share data with regulators and vetted researchers.