A regional publisher has started using artificial intelligence to write local news stories – but journalists have admitted there is still “a lot of work to be done” on the project.

Reach plc has confirmed it has begun testing the ability of chatbots, programmes that allow robots to hold direct online conversations with humans, to aid its coverage.

Reach last month formed a working group to determine the extent to which chatbots could help in aiding reporters covering topics such as weather and traffic reports.

As a result, a bot has now produced three articles for the publisher’s In Your Area network of hyperlocal websites – including a piece on ‘Seven Things to do in Newport’.

Further testing is expected to focus on similar content, as well as stories about local traffic and weather.

Speaking to The Guardian, Reach chief executive Jim Mullen said: “We produced our first AI content in the last 10 days but this is led by editorial.

“It was all AI-produced but the data was obviously put together by a journalist, and whether it was good enough to publish was decided by an editor.”

“There are loads of ethics around AI and journalistic content. The way I look at it, we produce lots of content based on actual data. It can be put together in a well-read [piece] that I think AI can do.

“We are trying to apply it to areas we already get traffic to allow journalists to focus on content that editors want written.”

A Reach spokesperson told HTFP: “While this is all still in its early stages, and our journalist testers agree that there’s a lot of work to be done, it’s been interesting and useful to see what the tech can and can’t do at the moment.”