The news: The European Commission (EC) deemed ChatGPT a very large online search engine (VLOSE) after the genAI platform exceeded a threshold of 45 million average monthly users in the region.

The EC stated that ChatGPT counts as a search engine because of its ability to engage with and respond to user questions, including by searching the web.

• The designation under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) means ChatGPT has four months to comply with requirements, including detailing risk mitigation efforts and increased transparency around advertising, algorithm design, and content moderation decisions.
• Noncompliance could result in fines of up to 6% of its annual global turnover.

Why it’s important: AI assistants are graduating from software tools into official information distribution platforms.

ChatGPT’s new regulatory status shows how its sheer size and growing role in discovery puts it alongside established digital information gatekeepers like Google Search and Bing. That strengthens the case for marketers to manage AI visibility as a long-term distribution concern.

Zooming out: AI search continues to consume a small segment of user attention and hasn’t displaced traditional search in daily behavior, despite ChatGPT growing large enough to warrant the same scrutiny as Google Search.

• There’s a 95% overlap between ChatGPT and Google users that’s remained unchanged over the past year, per Similarweb, showing how AI is supplemental to traditional search.
• 83.7% of US Gen Zers who are monthly AI users turn to traditional search engines at least once per day, per an EMARKETER survey, while 37.4% use AI.

Recommendations for marketers: Treat AI visibility as a durable channel to monitor and invest in, but resist the urge to move search budgets away from Google prematurely. The overlap between AI search and traditional search tools shows how AI is being added to users’ research toolboxes, further fragmenting discovery.

• Audit and compare how content and products surface across channels, as the DSA’s transparency requirements could give EU marketers further visibility into how ChatGPT ranks and surfaces information.
• Monitor OpenAI’s response to compliance requirements around ad infrastructure, since DSA rules could influence how ChatGPT frames and discloses ads.