Brussels has classified ChatGPT as a search engine under the Digital Services Act, a first for an AI chatbot, and designated Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms. All three have four months to comply.

The European Commission has designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine and Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms under the Digital Services Act, subjecting all three to the bloc's strictest online safety regime.

The designation will prove particularly consequential for ChatGPT because the Commission has concluded that an AI chatbot that pulls live results from the internet functions, in regulatory terms, as a search engine — not merely a platform.

Under the DSA, online services that reach more than 45 million monthly users in the EU — roughly one in 10 of the bloc's population — are classified as either Very Large Online Platforms or Very Large Online Search Engines, depending on what they do.

The three services now have four months — until the end of November — to comply with a suite of obligations reserved for the largest platforms, including annual systemic risk assessments covering illegal content, the protection of minors, effects on users' mental and physical wellbeing, fundamental rights, electoral processes and public security.

They must also submit to independent audits and share data with regulators and vetted researchers.

The Commission will supervise compliance in cooperation with Ireland's Coimisiún na Meán, the digital services coordinator for ChatGPT and Reddit, and the Netherlands' Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) for Roblox.

The designations bring the total number of platforms and search engines under the DSA's strictest tier to 28.