The European Commission is assessing whether OpenAI’s ChatGPT should be subject to stricter obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), marking a potentially significant expansion of the EU’s digital regulatory framework into the realm of generative AI.(Reuters)
The review follows OpenAI’s disclosure of user figures that appear to exceed the DSA’s key threshold for designation. According to the company, ChatGPT’s search functionality reached an average of approximately 120.4 million monthly active users in the European Union over the six-month period ending in September 2025. This comfortably surpasses the 45 million user benchmark that can trigger classification as a “very large online platform” or “very large online search engine” under the DSA.
A European Commission spokesperson confirmed that regulators are analysing whether ChatGPT meets the criteria for such designation. While acknowledging that large language models could, in principle, fall within the scope of the DSA, the Commission emphasized that any determination would depend on a case-by-case assessment. This signals caution within the EU executive as it navigates the application of rules originally designed for traditional digital intermediaries to emerging AI systems.
At the heart of the issue is whether ChatGPT’s search-related functionalities align sufficiently with the definition of an online search engine under the DSA. If regulators conclude that it does, OpenAI could face a range of enhanced compliance obligations. These would likely include stricter risk assessment and mitigation requirements, increased transparency around algorithms, and more robust oversight mechanisms aimed at addressing systemic risks such as misinformation, harmful content, and manipulation.
The development reflects a broader regulatory trend in the European Union, where authorities are seeking to ensure that rapidly evolving AI technologies do not escape existing accountability frameworks. While the DSA was conceived before the widespread deployment of generative AI tools, its flexible, activity-based approach leaves room for reinterpretation as new digital services emerge.
The possibility of ChatGPT being classified under the DSA also raises important questions about the future regulatory treatment of AI-driven interfaces that blur the lines between search engines, content platforms, and conversational agents. Unlike traditional search engines, which primarily index and retrieve existing web content, systems like ChatGPT generate responses dynamically, potentially complicating the application of rules designed around content hosting or indexing.
For OpenAI, the outcome of the Commission’s assessment could have material operational implications in the EU. Compliance with the DSA’s most stringent requirements entails not only increased administrative burdens but also exposure to significant fines in cases of non-compliance. More broadly, it could set a precedent affecting other AI developers offering similar services in the European market.
