EU eyes ChatGPT rules

Brussels is assessing whether ChatGPT should be regulated under the European Union’s toughest Digital Services Act tier after OpenAI reported user numbers above the law’s threshold. (ec.europa.eu) (thehindu.com) A European Commission spokesperson said on April 10 that officials were analyzing whether ChatGPT should be treated as a “very large online search engine” under the Digital Services Act. Reuters reported the review began after OpenAI published figures above the 45 million-user cutoff used for designation. (thehindu.com) (pymnts.com) Under the law, services with more than 45 million average monthly users in the European Union face stricter duties, including annual risk assessments, independent audits, and data access for regulators and vetted researchers. The European Commission says that category carries the “most stringent rules” in the statute. (ec.europa.eu) (edaa.eu) OpenAI has been publishing Digital Services Act figures for ChatGPT search through OpenAI Ireland Limited, as required by Article 24(2) of the law. OpenAI’s help page says those disclosures cover the average monthly active recipients of its search features in the European Union over a six-month period. (help.openai.com) (eu-digital-services-act.com) Reports on the current review say OpenAI’s disclosed figure reached about 120.4 million average monthly active users in the European Union for the six months ending September 2025. That is well above the 45 million threshold the Commission uses for designation. (gdnonline.com) (legal.economictimes.indiatimes.com) OpenAI has been building out its policy bench in Europe as scrutiny increases. CoinDesk reported on April 13 that Tom Duff Gordon, Coinbase’s vice president of international policy for nearly four years, left to join OpenAI as head of policy for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. (coindesk.com) At the same time, OpenAI has paused its Stargate United Kingdom data center project. Reuters, Bloomberg and CNBC each reported that the company cited high power costs and an unfavorable or uncertain regulatory environment in Britain. (aol.com) (bloomberg.com) (cnbc.com) The Digital Services Act was written for online intermediaries such as platforms and search engines, not for large language models by name. The Commission spokesperson said any decision on ChatGPT would require a case-by-case assessment of how the service fits the law’s categories. (thehindu.com) (pymnts.com) If Brussels designates ChatGPT under that regime, OpenAI would face a new layer of European compliance just as it is adding policy staff and slowing at least one major infrastructure bet in the region. The next step is the Commission’s formal determination on whether ChatGPT’s search features fit the Digital Services Act category it is now examining. (ec.europa.eu) (thehindu.com)