EU Designates ChatGPT a Very Large Search Engine, Imposes DSA Rules

The European Commission announced on August 31 that ChatGPT has been added to the list of very large online search engines, while Reddit and Roblox have been designated as very large online platforms under the EU's Digital Services Act. It is the first time an AI chatbot has been placed under the strictest oversight regime, previously reserved for the likes of Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

The decision was announced by Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission's Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty. The new designation means OpenAI, Reddit, and Roblox now join a group of 28 services subject to the strictest level of regulation under the Digital Services Act (DSA), alongside previously designated giants such as Google Search, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Amazon.

Why ChatGPT Qualifies

ChatGPT's classification has drawn attention because the DSA was designed with social media and search engines in mind, not AI chatbots. The Commission resolved the issue by describing ChatGPT as a hybrid service that functions as a search engine, since it can respond to user queries and search the web on their behalf.

The distinction carries legal weight. Classifying ChatGPT as a search engine rather than a social platform brings a somewhat different set of obligations than those applying to Reddit or Roblox, but the user threshold and the consequences of non-compliance are the same.

These new designations mean that ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox will now be held to a higher standard of scrutiny and accountability across the European Union, commensurate with their significant impact on citizens and society - Henna Virkkunen, European Commission Executive Vice-President

What Obligations Await OpenAI

By the end of November, the companies must implement annual systemic risk assessments covering the spread of illegal content, the service's impact on minors, effects on users' mental and physical health, respect for fundamental rights, impact on electoral processes, and public safety.

On top of that comes an obligation to undergo independent audits and share data with regulators and vetted external researchers. The Commission is also demanding greater transparency around algorithms, recommendation systems, and the mechanisms users rely on to report illegal content.

Fines Already Levied on Other Companies

Brussels has shown in recent months that the DSA regime is not a dead letter. Fines imposed so far on platforms under the strictest oversight have totaled around 870 million euros, including 550 million euros for AliExpress, 200 million euros for Temu, and 120 million euros for X. These precedents illustrate the scale of financial risk that now extends to OpenAI as well.

What It Means for Polish Users and Businesses

For Polish ChatGPT users, this means in practice greater transparency in how the tool operates and an obligation for OpenAI to introduce safeguards reducing risks for minors and people in mental health crises, applying to users in Poland just as it does elsewhere in the EU. Companies building on ChatGPT, meanwhile, should expect possible changes to OpenAI's API and policies, driven by the need to meet the EU's audit and reporting requirements.

This is already the second EU regulation to hit OpenAI this year, after the AI Act. The company now has to simultaneously answer to the Commission on questions of model safety under the AI Act while meeting an entirely separate set of requirements under the DSA, showing that European oversight of major AI players now spans several independent pieces of legislation at once.

The decision also raises the pressure on other popular AI chatbots, such as Gemini and Copilot, whose user numbers in the EU are growing and could approach the same 45 million threshold in the coming months, making them candidates for a similar designation.