UCR’s $5 million AI partnership includes College of the Desert

Seven local news sites restrict AI crawlers

PALM DESERT — We checked 11 news sites covering the Coachella Valley and Inland Empire. Their public rules show different approaches to AI access—but not whether those rules are followed.

Palm Desert sets rules for AI at City Hall

PALM DESERT — AI speaking for the city must identify itself. Residents must have a way to seek human review when a high-risk use materially influences a decision about them.

Riverside weighs a data-center ban

RIVERSIDE — A councilmember wants an explicit ban in city code. A committee recommended a 90-day pause on new proposals, the Raincross Gazette reported.

When AI does the shopping

By Sat Singh

An agent could save you an afternoon. Before we call that efficiency, ask whose work disappears—and where the money goes.

Who writes our AI rules?

By Sat Singh

Four valley cities acted on data centers without waiting for Sacramento. On the wider rules for AI, showing up matters just as much.

The clicks weren’t the journalism

By Sat Singh

Reach built newsrooms around Google traffic. Its cuts are a warning for every publisher—including this one—about what happens when that traffic disappears.