SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (KUTV) — In a state grappling with high housing costs and a need for increased inventory, advanced technology like artificial intelligence is making it possible to build homes faster and more affordably.
But many in the industry aren’t using it to its full potential.
Claude and Wendy Bethea are a pair of empty-nesters documenting the construction of their dream home on YouTube.
Their project is more than just a personal milestone, it’s an example of how they use advanced technology to design and build.
Claude is a partner at SoLux Home. He has experience working in the tech industry and is now integrating cutting-edge technology into homebuilding.
“We’ll take the plans and create a virtual walkthrough and walk the home before we even start building,” he said, showcasing how digital modeling helps streamline construction and catch errors before they happen.
At a gated development overlooking Jordanelle Reservoir, Bethea is involved in another high-end project using the same technology. He acknowledged that most builders are behind the curve.
“95% of the builders out there are not using these technologies,” he said.
Despite the promise of faster, cheaper construction, adoption remains low.
“You have a technology that can help you speed up that process, but you have a very small trade base that actually knows how to use that technology,” Bethea added.
At the University of Utah, researchers are studying how to bridge this gap. Abbas Rashidi, a professor in manufacturing and engineering, researches the latest AI technologies from things like 3D printed homes to streamlined manufacturing.
“These types of technologies are useful if you’re not looking for something really fancy, not something that is complicated, but something that can just handle the job,” Rashidi said.
Rashidi said we should be seeing new technology becoming more and more popular, and the workforce may be shifting.
“New generations are more interested in sitting in an office in front of computers doing things other than working on a job site, so for that reason, we are probably shifting more to automation,” Rashidi said.
When asked whether hands-on labor or AI is the better approach, Rashidi said, “To me, the ideal situation is a merging of both.”
According to AI company Twixify, artificial intelligence can reduce build times by as much as 30% from initial concept to final design. AI also helps reduce errors and waste, leading to quicker and more cost-efficient builds.
“It’s going to be easier to get trades done, which should lower the costs of those trades,” Bethea added.
And with constant advances in AI, Rashidi believes the industry is just scratching the surface.
“It’s fascinating to see how things are evolving,” he said.
AI has also grabbed the attention of the Utah Homebuilders’ Association, where they are working on streamlining the permitting and regulation process. This would take collaboration between builders and local municipalities.
Currently, AI is already being used to generate home designs that meet local and state building codes. Both Bethea and Rashidi agree that the future holds even more potential for AI to revolutionize the way homes are built in Utah and beyond.
Chris Pelkey died in a road rage shooting in Arizona three years ago.
But with the help of artificial intelligence, he returned earlier this month at his killer’s sentencing to deliver a victim’s statement himself.
Family members said they used the burgeoning technology to let Mr Pelkey use his own words to talk about the incident that took his life.
While some experts argue the unique use of AI is just another step into the future, others say it could become a slippery slope for using the technology in legal cases.
His family used voice recordings, videos and pictures of Mr Pelkey, who was 37 when he was killed, to recreate him in a video using AI, his sister Stacey Wales told the BBC.
Ms Wales said she wrote the words that the AI version read in court based on how forgiving she knew her brother to be.
“To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,” said the AI version of Mr Pelkey in court. “In another life, we probably could have been friends.”
“I believe in forgiveness, and a God who forgives. I always have and I still do,” the AI verison of Mr Pelkey – wearing a grey baseball cap – continues.
The technology was used at his killer’s sentencing – Horcasitas already had been found guilty by a jury – some four years after Horcasitas shot Mr Pelkey at a red light in Arizona.
The Arizona judge who oversaw the case, Todd Lang, seemed to appreciate the use of AI at the hearing. He sentenced Horcasitas to 10-and-a-half years in prison on manslaughter charges.
“I loved that AI, thank you for that. As angry as you are, as justifiably angry as the family is, I heard the forgiveness,” Judge Lang said. “I feel that that was genuine.”
Paul Grimm, a retired federal judge and Duke Law School professor, told the BBC he was not surprised to see AI used in the Horcasitas sentencing.
Arizona courts, he notes, already have started using AI in other ways. When the state’s Supreme Court issues a ruling, for example, it has an AI system that makes those rulings digestible for people.
And Mr Grimm said because it was used without a jury present, just for a judge to decide sentencing, the technology was allowed.
“We’ll be leaning [AI] on a case-by-case basis, but the technology is irresistible,” he said.
But some experts like Derek Leben, a business ethics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, are concerned about the use of AI and the precedent this case sets.
While Mr Leben does not question this family’s intention or actions, he worries not all uses of AI will be consistent with a victim’s wishes.
“If we have other people doing this moving forward, are we always going to get fidelity to what the person, the victim in this case, would’ve wanted?” Mr Leben asked.
For Ms Wales, however, this gave her brother the final word.
“We approached this with ethics and morals because this is a powerful tool. Just like a hammer can be used to break a window or rip down a wall, it can also be used as a tool to build a house and that’s how we used this technology,” she said.
The road-rage killer of an Arizona man was sentenced last week to 10½ years behind bars after his victim spoke to the court via artificial intelligence in what could be the first-of-its-kind use of the technology, officials said Wednesday.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Todd Lang on Thursdaygave the maximum sentence to Gabriel Paul Horcasitas for the fatal shooting of Christopher Pelkey, 37, on Nov. 13, 2021, prosecutors said.
Horcasitas, 54, was convicted of manslaughter and endangerment this year.
Lang allowed Pelkey’s loved ones to play an AI-generated version of the victim — his face and body and a lifelike voice that appeared to ask the judge for leniency.
“To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me: It is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,” the artificial version of Pelkey said. “In another life, we probably could have been friends. I believe in forgiveness.”
The idea of using an AI version of Pelkey came from his family, not the state, according to his loved ones and a Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesperson.
Stacey Wales, Pelkey’s sister, and his brother-in-law both work in the AI field. When Wales suggested bringing her late brother to life like that, she said, her husband was more than hesitant.
“He recoiled,” Wales told NBC News. “And he said: ‘Stacey, do you know what you’re asking me to do? This is my best friend.’ And I said: ‘I know. It’s my brother.’ And then he said, ‘If this isn’t perfect, if this doesn’t go out and really embody the spirit of Chris, I’m not going to let this be shown.’”
Horcasitas had been convicted of manslaughter and endangerment at trial in spring 2023. But a new trial was ordered when a judge ruled that prosecutors failed to property disclose potentially key evidence in a timely manner.
Christopher Pelkey in an undated image.Courtesy Pelkey Family
Wales said she hadn’t come up with the idea in 2023. After two years of trying to craft a victim impact statement, she said, she had the epiphany that the only voice that mattered was her late brother’s.
“Every time I’d get in the shower or the car and my thoughts were quiet, I wrote down what I was feeling — frustrated, crying or emotions, yelling, anger, love, anything that I could think of,” she said.
“I’ve been writing it for two years, but I never had the idea to help Chris speak until a week and a half before this second trial.”
She added: “What I had to say did not seem like it would do justice to the last person listening to make a decision on Chris’ life.”
Horcasitas faced seven to 10½ years in prison. The defense asked for the lowest punishment.
Lang delivered the maximum, but he acknowledged the words in the presentation. “And as angry as you are, justifiably angry as the family is, I heard the forgiveness,” he said. “I feel like that was genuine, that his obvious forgiveness of Mr. Horcasitas reflects the character I heard about [Pelkey] today.”
Defense lawyer Jason Lamm said the AI presentation created a strong issue for appeal.
“While judges certainly have latitude as to what to hear, particularly from victims, an appellate court will have to decide if this was error,” Lamm said, “if it was just simply too far over the line in terms of being inflammatory and to what degree the judge relied on it in imposing a sentence on my client.”
Arizona State University law professor Gary Marchant, who specializes in ethics and emerging technologies, praised Pelkey’s loved ones for producing a work that appeared to be against their self-interest of securing a maximum penalty for Horcasitas.
But he said he’s worried about the precedent it set.
“The family did a really good job of representing what he would have said, and they would have the best sense of what he would have said,” Marchant said. “But on the other hand, it’s completely fake, right? It’s not true.”
While prosecutors and defense lawyers have long used visual aids, charts and other illustrations to make their points, Marchant said, AI presents new ethical challenges.
“I mean, it’s a blurry line, right?” said Marchant, who is on a state Supreme Court committee advising on the use of AI. “You see someone speaking who isn’t really speaking, right? You see that person in the courtroom actually speaking, and in reality, they’re dead and they’re not speaking. So this is an extra jump that I feel is going to get us into dangerous grounds.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) has given the stock market a big boost in the past couple of years. Companies and governments around the globe have been rapidly adopting this technology thanks to its disruptive nature, especially considering the significant productivity gains that it is projected to deliver in the long run.
Market research firm IDC predicts that each dollar spent on AI could generate $4.60 worth of value for the global economy in 2030. As a result, it won’t be surprising to see the strong demand for AI hardware and software continue over the next five years. Nvidia has been one of the pioneers in the field of AI, as the company’s powerful chips have allowed customers to train and deploy large language models (LLMs) and applications.
Image source: Getty Images.
Nvidia stock could get a nice shot in the arm in May…
The chipmaker is the biggest AI chip company out there, witnessing a whopping 114% increase in revenue in fiscal 2025 to $130.5 billion. Importantly, Nvidia has the ability to sustain its impressive growth momentum for a long time to come, thanks to a massive addressable market. However, the stock has been under pressure this year, thanks to restrictions on exports of its chips to China, the rising competition in the AI chip market, a potential drop in AI infrastructure spending, and the fallout of the tariff-fueled trade war.
The good part is that investors can buy this potential long-term winner at an attractive valuation right now, especially considering that it could regain its mojo in May following the release of its upcoming results. However, there is another AI chip company that looks like a better buy than Nvidia.
Let’s take a closer look at that name.
…but this high-growth company is worth buying hand over fist
Marvell Technology(MRVL -8.08%) designs application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and networking chips that are used in data centers, enterprise networking, telecom networks, and automotive, industrial, and consumer applications. The company’s data center business is now its biggest source of revenue.
Marvell got 75% of its top line from sales of data center chips in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 (which ended on Feb. 1). The segment’s revenue shot up a remarkable 78% year over year on the back of strong AI-fueled demand. Marvell points out that its AI revenue during the fiscal year was well above its original target of $1.5 billion, and it expects to “significantly exceed” its $2.5 billion revenue target for fiscal 2026.
This massive spurt in Marvell’s AI revenue is set to drive outstanding growth in the company’s revenue and earnings. Consensus estimates are projecting a 42% spike in the company’s revenue in the current fiscal year, to $8.2 billion. That would be a major improvement over the 5% revenue growth it clocked in the previous fiscal year. Even better, analysts are expecting Marvell’s healthy revenue growth to continue over the next couple of fiscal years as well.
This is set to translate into terrific bottom-line growth as well. Marvell’s earnings are forecasted to jump by 78% in the current fiscal year to $2.80 per share, followed by healthy growth over the next couple of years.
It’s easy to see why analysts are expecting such impressive growth from this company. After all, the demand for custom AI processors and chips has been increasing, as they’re more efficient in carrying out the specific tasks they’re designed for when compared to general-purpose computing chips such as graphics processing units (GPUs). As a result, custom AI processors can help lower operating costs, which is why the likes of Amazon and others have been developing these chips with Marvell’s help.
Marvell points out that it currently has two high-volume customers for its custom AI chips. It expects to gain more business from these customers in the future, as they are likely to adopt the next generation of Marvell’s custom AI processors. Marvell has brought onboard a third customer as well, to whom it will start shipping its AI chips next year.
Looking ahead, there’s a good chance that Marvell could attract even more customers for custom AI chips. That’s because the company is pushing the envelope on the product development front and has developed a 2-nanometer (nm) node for manufacturing custom AI chips and networking components. Marvell currently offers chips based on a 3nm platform, and the move to the smaller 2nm process should ideally result in 15% performance gains and 30% lower power consumption.
This new process node should put Marvell in a solid position to make the most of the fast-growing custom AI chip market, which it projects is on track to grow at a 45% annual rate through 2028 to $43 billion. Moreover, the company expects to corner a bigger share of this fast-growing niche with the help of its next-generation chips. Specifically, Marvell management believes that the company’s share of the data center chip market could double to 20% in 2028 from 10% in 2023.
So, don’t be surprised to see Marvell maintaining a healthy pace of growth beyond the next couple of fiscal years. It’s trading at less than 23 times forward earnings, compared to Nvidia’s forward earnings multiple of 26. So investors can buy Marvell at very attractive levels right now, considering the big earnings jump it’s expected to deliver. They may not want to pass up such an opportunity this month, as Marvell’s long-term outlook indicates that it could deliver solid stock price upside for a long time to come.
John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Harsh Chauhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Marvell Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Heavy pots and pans fill high shelves. A light bulb out of easy reach needs to be changed. Outside, the overgrown lawn waves in the wind. Like 75% of Americans, your family member wants to remain independent in their own home. But, like many, you are concerned about the growing aging population and the shortage of health care workers to assist them.
Ben Amor spent a year embedded in Google’s DeepMind, part of a team that is coming up with the solution to your problem, and it’s a robot … that can play table tennis. If you did a double take just now, he hopes that you understand something important.
The same skills that help the table tennis bot move, react and understand instructions during play are key for building robots that could help aging adults live independently.
Imagine a robot that helps you grab items from a high shelf, prepares meals and tidies up the house — and processes what you’re asking it to do. That’s the reality Ben Amor and the DeepMind team are working toward.
“If you want to get robots out of the manufacturing plant, make them learn a sport,” Ben Amor says. “They will pick up all the needed skills. These robots have to be really dynamic. They have to be aware of their surroundings. They have to anticipate the behavior of the people around them.”
The score? Game: robot. Match: humanity
The roboticists began with a desire for an AlphaGo moment.
Remember when Google’s AlphaGo AI beat a Go world champion and everyone freaked out? That was the AlphaGo moment for games. Then AlphaFold did it again for medicine by solving protein-folding puzzles. Now, DeepMind is going for a three-peat — with robots.
Enter the table tennis bot.
This little champ takes in text-based instructions from a user via Gemini, a chatbot that uses Google’s large language model, or LLM. Gemini combines human coaching with artificial intelligence, or AI, algorithms created by Ben Amor and the team. Those algorithms serve as a set of computer instructions, prompting the robot to play on its own until it demonstrates that it can perform as directed.
By reading the game logs and tweaking its performance based on plain-language instructions, the robot doesn’t just play. It gets better every time it plays.
What’s more, as it plays, the robot generates a series of “diary entries.” Gemini then analyzes what the robot is doing, noting the changes made to play as the researchers’ algorithms work. The chatbot reports this back to the user.
Pannag Sanketi, tech-lead manager on the robotics team at Google DeepMind, notes that this is a critical step. For us to be able to trust AI and the robots using it, we must be able to understand them. The user must always know what the robot is doing — and why.
“It’s important for establishing trust and transparency,” Sanketi says. “When a robot can explain why it’s adjusting its actions, it builds user trust and makes the robot’s behavior less opaque. If the robot isn’t performing as expected, the natural language explanations provided by the LLM during its optimization process can help users or developers identify potential issues more easily.”
In testing, the robot managed to beat half the amateur humans it played against and even scored points on expert players. So no, it’s not yet the Serena Williams of table tennis, but it’s got game.
Next up, Ben Amor and the team, including computer science doctoral students Yifan Zhou and Kamalesh Kalirathinam, will present their work at the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation to be held later in May in Atlanta. The team is also exploring other collaborations with DeepMind.
Students serve up smarter robots (and big impact)
Ben Amor has been on a sports-meets-science journey for years, building robots that play basketball, throw footballs and, now, crush it in table tennis. The efforts are part of a serious strategy to galvanize student enthusiasm for robotics.
By engaging students with fun, high-energy projects like robot sports, Ben Amor’s lab is training the next generation of roboticists to tackle tough challenges, such as home assistance, health care and rehabilitation.
“It’s hard to get a student excited about programming a surgical arm on day one,” he says. “But tell them they’re building a table tennis robot that can outsmart their roommate? Now we’ve got their attention.”
Ben Amor’s team has applied the same techniques used in the table tennis and basketball robots to develop a prosthetic limb for individuals with lower-leg amputations. The intelligent prosthesis reduces musculoskeletal strain by adjusting to the user’s gait and changing terrain in real time. The team patented the design in 2024 and has been collaborating with a local startup to transition the technology from a lab prototype to a real-world solution.
Ross Maciejewski, director of the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, says Ben Amor’s work is an important part of the school’s efforts to build a home for excellence in robotics education and research.
“Robotics is a critical field that’s shaping the future of everything from health care to space exploration,” Maciejewski says. “Heni’s work plays a key role in our efforts to prepare students to lead in this transformative area.”
And yes, the table tennis bot might be flashy and fun, but behind the cool spin shots and trick serves, it’s building the skills that will one day help real people live longer, healthier, more independent lives.
About this story
There’s a reason research matters. It creates technologies, medicines and other solutions to the biggest challenges we face. It touches your life in numerous ways every day, from the roads you drive on to the phone in your pocket.
The ASU research in this article was possible only because of the longstanding agreement between the U.S. government and America’s research universities. That compact provides that universities would not only undertake the research but would also build the necessary infrastructure in exchange for grants from the government.
That agreement and all the economic and societal benefits that come from such research have recently been put at risk.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema shared the spotlight once again — but only one of the former Real Madrid stars seized the moment. In a pulsating clash at Al-Awwal Park on Wednesday, Al-Ittihad completed a stunning 3-2 comeback win over Al-Nassr, crushing the hosts’ slim title hopes and sending a message to the rest of the Saudi Pro League.
While Ronaldo faded into the background, his former teammate Benzema led from the front, scoring and igniting the turnaround that could define Al-Ittihad’s championship push. The victory sent Al-Ittihad six points clear at the top with 71 points, while Al-Nassr dropped to fourth — a dramatic twist in a league already brimming with storylines.
The first 45 minutes belonged to Sadio Mane, who was electric throughout. Just three minutes in, the Senegalese winger pounced on a defensive mistake by Abdulelah Al-Amri and drilled home a low strike to give Al-Nassr the perfect start.
Mane’s influence didn’t stop there. In the 37th minute, after dancing through defenders and slipping mid-run, he squared a pass for Ayman Yahya, who made no mistake with a clinical finish. VAR reviewed a potential handball in the build-up, but the goal stood, giving Al-Nassr a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead at the break.
Benzema and Kante spark Al-Ittihad’s revival
But the second half flipped the script in spectacular fashion. Just four minutes after the restart, Karim Benzema rose highest to head home a pinpoint cross, pulling one back for Al-Ittihad. The celebration was calm but loaded with symbolism — the quiet leader striking when it mattered most.
Three minutes later, N’Golo Kante brought the scores level with a powerful low strike after a well-orchestrated counterattack. From 2-0 down to 2-2 in seven minutes, Laurent Blanc’s side seized the initiative and pinned Al-Nassr deep into their own half.
The hosts, rattled and disorganized, failed to muster a coherent response. And in the 94th minute, Houssem Aouar pounced on a rebound inside the box and tapped in what proved to be the winning goal. The drama wasn’t over yet — Moussa Diaby was sent off in the dying seconds after tempers boiled over.
Ronaldo’s disappearing act and what it means for the title
On a night built for heroes, Cristiano Ronaldo was eerily absent. The 40-year-old forward was largely ineffective, failing to register any meaningful shots on target or influence the attacking play.
The contrast to Mane — who scored and assisted — was glaring. Despite Al-Nassr’s loss, the former Liverpool and Bayern Munich man was clearly their standout performer, troubling defenders with his pace, vision, and dribbling.
This result could reshape the season. With four games remaining, Al-Ittihad stands poised to clinch the Saudi Pro League title and potentially complete a domestic double, having already reached the King Cup final.
Al-Nassr, on the other hand, faces an uncertain future. With only the top two qualifying for next season’s AFC Champions League Elite, and Al-Ahli securing one spot by winning the continental title, Ronaldo’s side now trails third place by one point.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez often stun fans through their social media activity. Rodriguez, Ronaldo’s celebrity model partner, usually posts the latest fashion trends and photoshoots on her social media.
The Argentine-Spanish model is a social media influencer and has grown leaps and bounds since her association with Ronaldo began. She currently has over 66 million followers on Instagram.
Rodriguez recently posted photos and videos on social media from her first-ever appearance at the MET Gala. She wrote on Instagram:
MET GALA 2025 ✨ @vetements_official.
– Georgina Rodriguez
In a video, she wrote:
Dream night at my first MET in this beautiful @vetements_official dress by @gvasalia 🖤
– Georgina Rodriguez
In her latest post, Rodriguez wrote:
Moments from a magical night. Thank you always to God, to my family and to my team for accompanying me in every dream 🤍
– Georgina Rodriguez
Designer Guram Gvasalia has revealed that the late Princess Diana inspired Georgina Rodriguez’s latest black outfit. He wrote on Instagram:
When Georgina asked me to dress her for her first Met, the first think that came to my mind was Princess Diana for her first Met wearing a John Galliano slip dress. As the dress code for Met Gala this year was “Tailored for you”, we started with tailoring and took out the lining out of 10 different tailored jackets and coats and reworked it into neglige dresses, trimmed with lace. After that we cut those dresses up and merged them into one evening gown, entirely stitched by hand, giving it a real Vetements Couture treatment. Archetypal masculine garments were reworked into a sensual personalized silhouette.
I wanted to give Georgina that Princess moment. She is today’s People’s Princess and the Queen of People’s Hearts. Not every dress needs to be a fairytale story, but this one is…
– Guram Gvasalia
Georgina Rodriguez and trendy outfits are nothing new. Her latest dress, however, has a historic touch about it.
ALEJANDRO GARNACHO has vowed to stay at Manchester United and could now smash one of his idol Cristiano Ronaldo’s records.
The Argentine brushed off comparisons with Ronaldo as he stands on the brink of surpassing one of the Portuguese superstar’s many feats.
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Alejandro Garnacho dismissed comparisons to Cristiano RonaldoCredit: Reuters
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The winger idolises Ronaldo and thinks he’s the greatest player of all timeCredit: Reuters
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Garnacho’s dream came true when he started alongside Ronaldo for the first time against SheriffCredit: Getty
Yet he knows he will likely have to deal with them for as long as he remains a United player.
After all, it was Ronaldo who created the Argentinian winger’s first goal for the Red Devils back in November 2022.
And when the six-time Ballon d’Or winner left Old Trafford for the second and final time a few weeks later, the Stretford End immediately gave his song to Garnacho.
But deep down he probably would not have it any other way.
After all, this is the guy who still picks the Real Madrid legend as his greatest ever player — despite being an international team-mate of Barcelona legend Lionel Messi.
Garnacho posted on Instagram that he felt like he was dreaming the first time they lined up alongside each other for United at Sheriff Tiraspol.
There were even reports — which the United winger later denied — that he snubbed Messi on several occasions as their nation lifted the Copa America last year because he was such a fan of Ronaldo.
But there’s more — Garnacho nicked Ronaldo’s famous celebration after his overhead kick at Everton — and was clocked wearing some CR7-branded undies in a cup tie at Wigan last season.
So you can be sure he knows that he can get one over on his idol between now and the end of the season.
Ronaldo had 25 goal involvements in the Premier League for United before he reached the age of 21 — and after scoring in Sunday’s defeat at Brentford, Garnacho is now just one behind.
New footage emerges of Alejandro Garnacho that ‘explains why Man Utd star marched down tunnel’ after being hauled off
With three more Premier League games to go before he hits the landmark birthday in July, it should be within his grasp.
Garnacho appeared relaxed in the press conference as he showed off a tattoo on his hand bearing his son Enzo’s name
He said: “I’m not focused on the numbers.
“When Cristiano played here, he was a different footballer and there were different types of games.
“I just try to help the team and win games.
“With the missed chances and things, we are training really hard, all the strikers and I think we are improving. We will try to do better.”
At one stage this season, it looked as though Garnacho could be following Ronaldo out of the Old Trafford exit door.
He lost his way in the early weeks of Portuguese boss Ruben Amorim’s reign and was axed from the squad ahead of the Manchester derby in December for disciplinary reasons.
He has worked his way back into the manager’s good books since the autumn but has not hit double figures in terms of goals and assists this term.
Garnacho explained: “My first two months, November and December, were very difficult for me but my mentality is to keep working, to keep trying and show to the manager and staff I have to play.
“Obviously we have to work hard to be in the squad and then I have to train well every day and be available for all the games.
“I speak with Rasmus Hojlund a lot. We try to help each other.
“Sometimes, from this side, it’s difficult but we try hard, try harder every game to try to score more of these chances, and the team will improve if we score more goals.”
With Amorim sticking to his 3-4-3 formation, Garnacho admitted it has taken him a while to get used to it.
He said: “It’s difficult for everyone when, in the middle of the season, a new manager comes in and we change the formation.
“But we just need to improve every day. Obviously, the manager knows the characteristics of the players.
“What we try to do depends on the players we have and we are improving as a team also.”
Garnacho caught the eye in the 3-0 win against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames last week which has put them in such a commanding position.
And he has urged his team-mates to finish the job at Old Trafford and approach the Europa League semi-final second leg with the right mentality.
As well as a European trophy, it would give United a place in next season’s Champions League — which would be a huge boost for everyone.
It would also see Garnacho play in a competition that a certain 40-year-old veteran Portuguese winger lit up so often.
The Argentina international added: “We know we are not doing a great job in the Premier League but the manager said before, we follow the rules and, for us, it’s a final tomorrow.
“We are going to face the game like it’s 0-0 and try to win the game, not just the tie.
“If we win the Europa League, we will be in the Champions League and then we can face the next season with a better mentality and in a different way.”
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Garnacho has a tattoo of his son’s name on his handCredit: Reuters
Going nowhere
Garnacho is planning to stay at United this summer.
But despite fears Red Devils will sell him to balance the books, Garnacho insists he is happy where he is.
Meanwhile Amorim says skipper Bruno Fernandes is not for sale despite renewed interest from Saudi Arabia.
Both players have been key to United’s run to the brink of the Europa League final.
Garnacho said: “As a footballer, you are always going to listen and hear some rumours about the future.
“But I have a contract here until 2028 so I’m happy here.”
A suitable offer for Garnacho would still be tempting for United despite his improved form in recent months.
He qualifies as a homegrown player meaning his sale would be huge in their bid to get in line with the Prem’s profit and sustainability rules.
By contrast, Fernandes has always been viewed as one of the few United players who are not for sale.
But Fernandes signed a new deal with United last year and is one of a handful of players who are not for sale by the club.
He showed his worth last week as his two goals helped the Red Devils take a healthy lead into the Europa League semi-final second leg against Athletic Bilbao.
Amorim said: “I think it is easy to understand his importance – not just because of the numbers but the way he plays, the importance that he has during his five years here.
“He is a top player, we need top players. He is a leader, he’s the captain, so he’s really important.
“It’s normal that a lot of clubs want a player like Bruno, like Garnacho, like others.
“But we want to keep the best players, and Bruno is clearly one of the top players in the world, so our idea didn’t change.
.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "VIDEO: Georgina joins the stars! Cristiano Ronaldo’s partner rubs shoulders with Zendaya, Lewis Hamilton, Sabrina Carpenter & more at the Met Gala 2025")
