Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE)

A Very Large Online Search Engine is a regulatory tier the European Union applies to online search services that have more than 45 million users a month. Much like a large retail store that must undergo more frequent fire or health inspections once its sales pass a certain threshold, online services with very large user bases are considered to have a major impact on society, so they're held to stricter rules.

Services given this designation cannot run ads targeted at minors, and they're barred from using sensitive information like sexual orientation, religion, or political views to target ads. They also have to disclose in more detail how their search results or recommendations are generated.

The fact that ChatGPT, known as a conversational AI, received this designation means that as its web search and information-retrieval features grew, it entered the same regulatory category as established search engines like Google.

Articles use it in phrasing like 'the European Commission designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) under the Digital Services Act (DSA).' A common misunderstanding: this doesn't mean ChatGPT was newly built as a search engine — it means that as its user base grew, it was brought into the same regulatory category as existing search engines.