The city-run news site, Inside San Diego, is gaining prominence in Google results for San Diego due to AI-powered search, leading to links to the city news site regularly appearing at the top of results. The move aligns with the city's budget, trash fees, affordable housing developments, and other issues in the city. If someone searches "San Diego budget proposal 2026," Google provides an AI overview of the budget and an Inside SanDie link appears as the first reference above actual news outlets. However, Dean Nelson, a journalism professor at Point Loma Nazarene University, argues that the public is better served by a traditional news story that showcases multiple perspectives on an issue, not necessarily in the public's best interest. The city's spokesperson, Nicole Darling, argued that the use of AI-assisted search was a way to control the narrative rather than just to inform the public about issues such as the controversy surrounding the "H Barracks" homeless shelter.