BRUSSELS — The European Commission is keeping a close eye on how Big Tech is integrating artificial intelligence into its services and whether it is in line with digital competition rules, it said in a letter sent to lawmakers.

The Commission “is closely monitoring” market developments to ensure that “AI use in the EU advances in line with the law,” the EU executive’s tech commissioner Henna Virkkunen said in the letter to European Parliament members dated Sept. 24, seen by POLITICO.

“We observe from market developments that in a number of instances AI is being integrated into other services, such as online search engines or online social networks,” she wrote.

Meta has integrated its AI Assistant in services like Instagram, and Google’s search results now feature AI overviews at the top of the page.

When Big Tech platforms integrate AI, they already face a series of obligations under the bloc’s digital competition law, the Digital Markets Act, Virkkunen said in the letter. Several of the Big Tech AI frontrunners, such as Google, Microsoft and Meta, are designated as dominant gatekeepers under the DMA.

The letter reminds gatekeepers of their obligations regarding how they process, combine and cross-use data between services.

But platforms also have to enable that default services “including embedded AI” can be changed, Virkkunen argued in the letter.

The EU executive launched a review of its digital competition rulebook in July, with a particular focus on AI and how the rules can support a “contestable and fair AI sector in the EU.”

Dutch Greens European Parliament member Kim van Sparrentak, who wrote to the Commission in February with a push to include AI under the scope of the DMA, applauded the Commission’s move.

“Big Tech is now trying to extend its dominant position to the AI market by stealing our data and using it to train their AI or integrate it into our apps without our permission,” she said in a statement shared with POLITICO. “The Commission is clear: this is not allowed under the DMA.”