Could ChatGPT become the 28th ‘Very Large Online Platform’ (‘VLOP’) under the DSA? At any rate, this is a possibility that the European Commission is foreshadowing.
In a written response to questions from several MEPs on the designation of the AI tool, dated Monday 2 February, Commissioner Henna Virkkunen, responsible for Technological Sovereignty, states that “without prejudging the outcome of this process for ChatGPT, the Commission aims to conclude the procedure in the first quarter of 2026”.
ChatGPT announced last October that its number of monthly users in the EU was well above the minimum threshold for designation as a “Very Large Online Platform” under the DSA (see EUROPE 13737/15), reaching 120 million.
ChatGPT is a special case, however. As the tool is not a search platform in the strict sense of the term, its integration into the ‘VLOP’ remains open to question. The Commission indicated last October that it was “assessing” this new information and that large AI models could fall under the DSA “if they were integrated into another service already designated by the Act”.
According to a source at the Commission, the final decision is formally moving towards a formal designation.
“We believe that ChatGPT is like a search engine, it can redirect you to a website, if you request it. If it had been integrated into a social media, as Grok is, then the conclusion would have been different”, explains the same source. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)