Almost everyone uses AI now. Moms use it to plan dinner. Kids use it to help with homework. Grandparents use it to answer questions they once would have Googled. Businesses rely on it every day. Whether we like it or not, ChatGPT has become a powerful tool for finding, organizing, and explaining information. This reality makes a new announcement from Brussels impossible to ignore.
The European Commission has decreed that ChatGPT, in addition to Reddit and Roblox, fall under its draconian Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU’s sweeping law regulating expression online.
The Commission’s announcement follows the services’ own reports that they reached 45 million average monthly users in the EU. This is the threshold that triggers a designation of “Very Large Online Platform” or, in ChatGPT’s case, a “Very Large Online Search Engine.” By the DSA’s own rules, crossing that threshold brings the operation of these services in the EU under the Commission’s control.
As a result, ChatGPT will be subject to EU-controlled information regulations that take effect within four months, including requirements to assess and mitigate “systemic risks” associated with its service and algorithmic systems. The Commission has thus positioned itself to determine what users see on ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox. Should the platforms fail to comply, Brussels has the power to slap them with fines of up to 6% of their annual global revenue
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