A regional publisher is exploring the idea of using artificial intelligence to help its journalists – sparking union fears over the potential impact such a move could have on jobs.

Reach plc has formed a working group to determine the extent to which chatbots, programmes that allow robots to hold direct online conversations with humans, could help in aiding reporters covering topics such as weather and traffic reports.

In recent years, some regional press groups have paid to use PA’s RADAR (Reporters and Data and Robots) service, which involves a team of reporters using official databases and story templates to generate automated reports about subjects such as health, crime and employment.

Reach’s chief executive Jim Mullen, pictured, said any use of AI by his company would be as a “tool to support our editorial teams”, although the National Union of Journalists has shared concerns that such a move could impact journalism jobs.

According to the Financial Times, Reach is specifically looking at a chatbot called ChatGPT, developed by American firm OpenAI.

Jim told the newspaper: “We’ve tasked a working group, across our tech and editorial teams, to explore the potential and limitations of machine-learning such as ChatGPT.

“We can see potential to use it in the future to support our journalists for more routine stories like local traffic and weather or to find creative uses for it, outside of our traditional content areas.”

Reach last month announced it is set to shed 200 jobs across its divisions, with around half of them expected to be editorial roles.

Chris Morley, the National Union of Journalists’ co-ordinator for Reach, told the FT he will be “seeking meetings with the company” over the AI plan.

He said: “I am concerned that the company hasn’t spoken to us in the first place as there’s a potential impact on jobs. We’re going through 200 job losses in the group, it’s been a painful process.”

Speaking to HTFP, Chris added: “The company’s active investigation of the use of AI in its editorial processes has not been raised with the union and we note Jim Mullen’s comments about where it is thought it might be used.

“The publishing industry has been lacking stability for many years and our members have endured many rounds of job cuts in that time. So it is natural that they will remain to be convinced where and how companies such as Reach will try to make use of this technology.

“Aside from the potential impact on capacity within the editorial process, there are clearly major concerns about how effective AI can be in an industry where human nuance and understanding is critical.

“There are business risks associated with the potential loss of brand reputation due to fear of systemic failings that have become obvious in recent weeks due to initial problems with AI. We would expect the company to discuss well in advance with the NUJ what its plans as a business are for AI and how that might impact on our members in the future.”

Francesco Marconi, co-founder of computational journalism company AppliedXL, explained to the FT how the use of ChatGPT in journalism would be in “supporting functions”.

He said: “A framework to think about this is if GPT was an intern that can help you edit certain passages of reporting but can’t generate original reporting.”

Reach declined to comment further on the plans when approached by HTFP.