ChatGPT search, OpenAI’s function inside ChatGPT that permits the chatbot to entry and incorporate up-to-date data from the net into its responses, is rising at a quick clip in Europe.
A report filed by one among OpenAI’s EU company divisions, OpenAI Ireland Limited, reveals ChatGPT search had roughly 41.3 million common month-to-month lively “recipients” for the six-month interval ending March 31. That’s up from roughly 11.2 million common month-to-month lively recipients within the six-month interval ending October 31, 2024.
OpenAI frequently publishes data on ChatGPT search to adjust to the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which regulates many facets of on-line providers in European nations. The DSA defines month-to-month lively recipients as “[people] really participating with the service no less than as soon as in a given time frame” by “being uncovered to data disseminated on the net interface of the net platform, resembling viewing it or listening to it, or by offering data.”
Interesting replace within the OpenAI EU Digital Services Act (DSA) FAQ article
ChatGPT search had about 41.3 million common month-to-month lively recipients within the European Union for the six-month interval ending 31 March 2025
(Earlier, for the six-month interval ending 31 October 2024,… pic.twitter.com/AY9sNI1vu9
— Tibor Blaho (@btibor91) April 21, 2025
One element of the DSA instructs “very giant” on-line platforms or engines like google — these with over 45 million common month-to-month recipients — to permit customers to decide out of advice techniques and profiling, share sure knowledge with researchers and authorities, and carry out exterior auditing. ChatGPT search could quickly be topic to those necessities, assuming the present development pattern holds.
Online platforms that don’t adjust to the DSA’s guidelines might see fines of as much as 6% of their world turnover. A platform frequently refusing to conform might end in a short lived suspension within the EU.
ChatGPT search has made inroads in opposition to incumbents like Google since debuting final 12 months. According to a ballot revealed in September, 8% of individuals stated they’d select ChatGPT over Google as their major search engine. But Google stays far and away the dominant on-line search software. By one estimate, it handles 373 occasions extra searches than ChatGPT.
Researchers have discovered ChatGPT search and different AI-powered engines like google to be much less dependable than standard search, relying on the question. According to 1 research, ChatGPT incorrectly recognized 67% of searched-for articles. Another research surfaced accuracy issues associated to ChatGPT’s remedy of reports content material, together with content material from publishers with which OpenAI has licensing agreements.
