(Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via AP)On August 31, the European Commission designated OpenAI’s ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE), placing the chatbot under the Digital Services Act's (DSA) most stringent tier of obligations. This decision was long in the making – in fact, we explored different options for how the EC could do this in an extensive paper three years ago.This designation could have far-reaching implications, both for frontier labs' products and for the EU's own rulebook. Many of the questions it raises will only be answered as the Commission's supervision unfolds over the coming months.The decision confirms the DSA's technological neutrality, or at least its ability to bring new kinds of services, ones that didn't exist when it was drafted, within scope.One of our arguments for treating ChatGPT as a VLOSE in 2023 rested on Article 3(j) DSA, which defines a search engine as a service that lets users search “in principle, all websites.” At the time, ChatGPT was about to launch a version with web access, giving it exactly that capability. Since then, the search function has been fully integrated into the product, can even be set as a browser’s default one, and both the Commission and OpenAI’s own DSA transparency reports have treated ChatGPT as subject to the general obligations for online search engines since 2024. ChatGPT’s search function will now be subject to the DSA’s due diligence obligations: risk assessments, mitigation measures,…

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