Summary
On August 31, 2026, the European Commission designated OpenAI's ChatGPT a "very large online search engine" under the Digital Services Act, alongside designations of Reddit and Roblox as very large online platforms. It was the first time the Commission applied the DSA's highest tier of obligations to a generative AI chatbot. The designation followed OpenAI's own disclosure that ChatGPT's search features averaged about 159.1 million monthly active recipients in the EU over the six months ending March 31, 2026, more than three times the 45 million threshold. OpenAI has four months, until January 2027, to comply with the additional obligations, including systemic-risk assessments and independent audits.
What Happened
The Digital Services Act requires online platforms and search engines to publish their average monthly active recipients in the EU every six months, and empowers the Commission to designate any service that reaches 45 million as a very large online platform (VLOP) or very large online search engine (VLOSE). OpenAI Ireland Limited's DSA disclosure page reported approximately 11.2 million average monthly recipients for ChatGPT search in the six months ending October 31, 2024, then 41.3 million for the six months ending March 31, 2025, as TechCrunch reported at the time. The figure published for the six months ending March 31, 2026 was approximately 159.1 million. OpenAI's disclosure covered only ChatGPT's "online search features" and stated that the figure was calculated for DSA purposes and should not be used for other purposes.
Bloomberg reported on July 29, 2026 that the Commission was preparing to place ChatGPT and Roblox under the DSA's strictest tier. The Commission announced the designations on August 31. It 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." Reddit and Roblox were designated as VLOPs because they enable users to disseminate third-party content to the public. The three additions brought the total number of designated VLOPs and VLOSEs to 28. Before ChatGPT, the only services designated as very large online search engines were Google Search and Bing, both designated in April 2023.
Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said, "These designations mean ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox face higher scrutiny standards, reflecting their large societal impact." Following notification, the services have four months to comply with the additional obligations, which the Commission summarized as assessing and mitigating systemic risks stemming from their services and algorithmic systems relating to illegal content, negative effects on minors, users' physical and mental well-being, fundamental rights, electoral processes and public security. Designated services must also undergo annual independent audits, provide vetted researchers with data access, offer users a recommender option not based on profiling, and publish transparency reports on a more demanding schedule. The DSA allows fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover for non-compliance.
Supervision of designated services is shared between the Commission and the national Digital Services Coordinator of the country of establishment. For ChatGPT that is Ireland's Coimisiún na Meán, reflecting OpenAI Ireland Limited's role as the EU service provider, while the Netherlands' Authority for Consumers and Markets is the coordinator for Reddit and Roblox.
Why It Matters
The DSA's search-engine category was drafted with link-ranking services like Google Search and Bing in mind. By designating ChatGPT on the basis that it answers queries in part by searching the web, the Commission established that a conversational interface which retrieves and synthesizes web content is subject to the same systemic-risk regime as a conventional search engine. That places ChatGPT under two parallel EU frameworks: the AI Act's general-purpose model obligations, in force since August 2025, govern the underlying models, while the DSA now governs the consumer service built on them. How a systemic-risk assessment designed around ranking and recommendation applies to generated answers, and what an independent audit of a chatbot's "algorithmic systems" will examine, are questions the designation raises but does not answer.
The scope of the designation is also not fully settled on the public record. OpenAI's user count covers only ChatGPT's search features, while the Commission's announcement refers to ChatGPT as a whole; whether the obligations attach to the entire product or only to its web-search functionality may be clarified in the formal decision or in later supervision. Earlier designees have challenged their status before the EU General Court, and Zalando's challenge to its 2023 VLOP designation was dismissed in September 2024. OpenAI had not publicly stated by the time of designation whether it would seek review.
The growth trajectory in OpenAI's own disclosures, from roughly 11 million to roughly 159 million average monthly recipients in about eighteen months, is a rare regulator-mandated data series on the adoption of AI search in a major market. The designation's practical effect will depend on what OpenAI's first risk assessment and audit reveal, and on whether the Commission opens formal proceedings, as it has against several other designated services since 2023.
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