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Robot journalists are set to start working at Britain and Ireland's national news agency.

Non-human hacks will be rolled out to cover sports, football and elections for the Press Association in the next few months.

The cybernetic scribes will be "more accurate" than flesh and blood journos in some cases, according to PA's editor in chief Pete Clifton.

Addressing the Society of Editors conference in Carlisle this morning, Mr Clifton said: “This won’t be replacing any of our fantastic journalists, it will be more a case of offering an extra level when it comes to short market reports, election results and football reporting."

(Image: Getty)

(Image: Getty)

The PA boss was asked whether the robot reporters would be vulnerable to “pranksters”.

He said the agency would be "taking very small steps in this area,” the Press Gazette reported.

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(Image: Getty)

A Danish news agency was already using robots to write hundreds of market reports, he added.

“They are more accurate than when somebody was trying to write too many stories on their own," he said.

When asked weather androids would replace human hacks, Mr Clifton said: "Of course [they] won’t - we won’t have a robot going to a big fire or covering a crown court case.”

Press Association has recently invested in a 360 degree camera and a drone.