The EU has officially classified ChatGPT as a search engine
By Brett Gavaghan, Founder of Adaptd · · Updated
European regulators now treat ChatGPT as a search engine, with the obligations that come with it. For businesses, it confirms something more practical: AI answers are where a growing share of customers look first.
The short version
- The European Union has formally classified ChatGPT as a search engine under its digital rules.
- The new transparency and accountability obligations land on OpenAI, not on your business.
- Ask ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini what they know about your business, then fix unclear descriptions and inconsistent details.
In this week's round of tech news, the EU formally classified ChatGPT as a search engine, and that confirms where a growing share of customers look first.
What did the EU decide about ChatGPT?
The European Union has formally classified ChatGPT as a search engine under its digital rules. The immediate consequences are regulatory - transparency and accountability obligations that until now applied to the likes of Google - and they land on OpenAI, not on you.
The reason it matters to a business in Melbourne or Manchester is what the decision recognises: a lot of people are no longer typing questions into a search box and scanning ten blue links. They are asking an AI and taking the answer. Regulators have simply caught up with behaviour that has been shifting for a couple of years.
What does ChatGPT counting as a search engine mean for your business?
The shift changes the question from 'do we rank on Google?' to 'when someone asks an AI who to use for what we do, does it know about us, and does it describe us accurately?' For most midsize businesses the honest answer is 'we have never checked'.
It takes ten minutes: ask ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini what they know about your business and your category, and read the answers as a prospective customer would.
How do you make your business easier for AI to find?
The fixes for AI findability are mostly familiar. Clear, plain-English descriptions of what you do and who you do it for. Consistent details across your website, directories and reviews. Content that actually answers the questions your customers ask. AI systems reward the same clarity people do - they just reward it more visibly now.
Being findable by AI is becoming part of being findable at all. It is not a reason to panic, but it is a good reason to make sure the story the machines tell about you is the one you would tell yourself.
Wondering what this means for your business?
That's exactly what the discovery call is for.