What the Commission decided
On 31 August 2026, the European Commission designated ChatGPT as a very large online search engine (VLOSE) under the Digital Services Act (DSA). On the same day, Reddit and Roblox were designated as very large online platforms. The three services had themselves declared exceeding the threshold of 45 million average monthly users in the EU. For ChatGPT, the figure retained by the Commission is approximately 159,1 million monthly recipients for its search function; Reddit declared 57,2 million and Roblox 46,6 million.
With these decisions, the Commission now counts 28 designated very large platforms and very large search engines. For ChatGPT, it will exercise supervision in cooperation with Coimisiún na Meán, the Irish digital services coordinator, as the service is established in Ireland.
Why a "search engine"?
The classification was not self-evident. According to Politico, the Commission long hesitated between the categories of platform and search engine, while ChatGPT already declared 120 million users the previous year. It ultimately decided by describing ChatGPT as a hybrid service: an AI system capable of responding to user queries, notably by performing web searches, and therefore falling under the category of online search engines within the meaning of the DSA. This is the first time a generative AI service has entered this regime.
OpenAI does not contest, for now, this interpretation. Its spokesperson Oscar Haines told Politico (our translation):
"ChatGPT search functions as a search service within the meaning of the DSA, and we are preparing to meet the additional compliance requirements linked to this designation as a very large online search engine."
On the Commission's side, Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, explained that ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox would now be subject "to an increased level of scrutiny and accountability," commensurate with their impact on citizens, adding that Brussels will not hesitate to designate any other platform crossing the threshold.
What changes for OpenAI
ChatGPT was already subject to the general obligations of the DSA applicable to search engines. The designation adds the enhanced regime for very large actors. OpenAI has four months, i.e., until the end of December 2026, to comply. Among the main obligations of the text:
- assess systemic risks related to the service and its algorithmic systems (Article 34): dissemination of illegal content, negative effects on minors, on the physical and mental well-being of users, on fundamental rights, electoral processes and public safety;
- implement proportionate mitigation measures (Article 35);
- submit to an independent audit each year (Article 37);
- provide access to certain data to authorities and accredited researchers (Article 40);
- comply with enhanced requirements for advertising transparency (Article 39).
In case of non-compliance, fines can reach 6 % of the annual worldwide turnover. The Commission now has investigative powers over the service's features and related systems.
DSA and AI Act: two regimes that intersect
The designation comes one month after the entry into force of the AI Act, whose rules have been enforced by the Commission's AI Office since 2 August 2026. The two texts do not cover the same subject. The AI Act governs the AI model and system: documentation of general-purpose models, additional obligations for models presenting systemic risks, transparency towards users. The DSA, for its part, governs the online service and its effects on the public space.
However, the two converge: according to the Commission, it is the AI Office that enforces the transparency rules and prohibited practices of the AI Act for systems integrated into very large platforms or very large search engines designated under the DSA. ChatGPT thus finds itself under dual Brussels supervision, which centralizes control at the Commission rather than with national authorities alone.
The questions that remain open
The decision sets a precedent. Other conversational assistants with a search function could be designated in turn if they cross the threshold of 45 million users, as the Commission has explicitly announced. It also poses a practical difficulty: the DSA's risk assessment methods were designed for news feeds and result pages, not for responses generated on the fly and varying from one conversation to another. How OpenAI will measure, for example, the effects of ChatGPT on its users' mental health will be a test.
Finally, the designation is not immune to challenge: other companies, including Amazon and Zalando, have already challenged their designation before the Union's courts. For Europe, the stakes go beyond the case of OpenAI. It is about showing that its digital rules, adopted before the rise of generative AI, can apply to new information intermediaries without having to be rewritten with every innovation.
Sources: European Commission, Representation in France, 31 August 2026 ; Press release IP/26/1772 ; List of designated very large platforms and search engines ; Politico Europe, 31 August 2026 ; Pinsent Masons, 1er Sept. 2026 ; Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (DSA) ; Commission, application of the AI Act on 2 August 2026 (IP/26/1714).
