EU weighs DSA for ChatGPT

Brussels is asking a simple question with a messy answer: is ChatGPT just an artificial intelligence tool, or is it now big enough to be regulated like one of Europe’s giant internet platforms? On April 10, 2026, the European Commission said it was analyzing whether ChatGPT had crossed the Digital Services Act threshold after OpenAI published user figures above 45 million in the European Union. (reuters.com) (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) That 45 million number is not random. Under the Digital Services Act, services above that line can be designated as “very large online platforms” or “very large online search engines,” which brings the toughest rulebook in the law. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) (gmfus.org) The surprise is that ChatGPT was already preparing for one European law and may now get pulled into a second one. The European Union Artificial Intelligence Act sets separate duties for general-purpose artificial intelligence models, including documentation, transparency, and extra obligations for models judged to carry systemic risk. (eur-lex.europa.eu) (artificialintelligenceact.eu) Those two laws were built for different problems. The Artificial Intelligence Act focuses on how the model is built and deployed, while the Digital Services Act focuses on how a public-facing service handles content, users, complaints, risks, and outside scrutiny. (eur-lex.europa.eu) (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) That is why this review matters more than a label change. If ChatGPT is designated under the Digital Services Act, OpenAI would not be dealing with one Europe rulebook for artificial intelligence; it would be dealing with overlapping obligations from both the platform law and the artificial intelligence law at the same time. (reuters.com) (eur-lex.europa.eu) For a designated very large service, the Digital Services Act adds concrete chores that look more like platform governance than model governance. The European Commission says those services must assess and mitigate systemic risks, undergo independent audits, share data with regulators and vetted researchers, and publish transparency reports. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) The classification question is also awkward because ChatGPT does more than one job. It can act like a chatbot, a writing assistant, a coding tool, and, with search features, something closer to a search engine, which is why Reuters reported Brussels was examining whether it should be treated as a large online platform under the Digital Services Act after the user disclosure. (reuters.com) (techcrunch.com) OpenAI’s own Europe disclosures helped create this moment. Reporting on a filing by OpenAI Ireland, TechCrunch said ChatGPT search reached about 41.3 million average monthly recipients in the European Union for the six months ending March 31, 2025, up from about 11.2 million for the period ending October 31, 2024. (techcrunch.com) Now Brussels has to decide what those users make ChatGPT in legal terms. Reuters reported on April 10, 2026 that the Commission was reviewing the available data and that the trigger for that review was OpenAI publishing figures above the Digital Services Act threshold. (reuters.com) For companies buying ChatGPT for staff, this is the part that lands in contracts. A vendor that sits under both the Artificial Intelligence Act and the Digital Services Act can face more audits, more reporting duties, more compliance changes, and more questions about who handles harmful outputs, user complaints, and regulator requests inside the European Union. (reuters.com) (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) The bigger picture is that Europe’s old internet laws and new artificial intelligence laws are starting to collide in one product. ChatGPT grew fast enough that Brussels is no longer asking only what the model is, but also what kind of public service it has become. (reuters.com) (eur-lex.europa.eu)