Borthwick plans England overhaul with Fin Smith expected to start against Italy
Steve Borthwick is ready to radically overhaul his misfiring England side for the Six Nations clash against Italy on Saturday, with Fin Smith expected to be handed the No 10 jersey.The Northampton fly-half sat out training on Monday because of illness but England have been quick to allay fears that his participation against Italy is in doubt.Provided he recovers, Smith is expected to start at fly-half in place of George Ford.Since the tour of Argentina last summer, Ford has established himself as Borthwick’s first-choice fly-half but he endured a miserable outing against Ireland and was jeered by supporters after twice missing touch with kicks to the corner.Smith, meanwhile, has played a bit-part role in the championship to date.
Borthwick is also expected to rejig his centre combination and back three in a back-line that may feature only one survivor from the dismal defeat by Ireland, with Tommy Freeman expected to move from wing to centre.With Alex Mitchell absent because of a hamstring injury, Ben Spencer of Bath is the favourite for the No 9 jersey, ahead of Leicester’s Jack van Poortvliet.Without Ollie Lawrence, who has a knee injury, Freeman is expected to return to outside-centre where he started against Wales and Scotland, with Tom Roebuck returning on the right wing.At full-back, Freddie Steward’s place is under considerable threat, while on the left wing Cadan Murley is under consideration for a second Six Nations appearance, while Seb Atkinson is ready to take Fraser Dingwall’s place at inside-centre.There are fewer changes expected in the pack but Borthwick has a concern over Ollie Chessum, who sat out training on Monday.
England’s hopes of clinching the Six Nations title are over but they have never lost against Italy and the back-rower Ben Earl has revealed there have been some home truths aired this week.“These are the weeks where boys have a little glint in their eye,” he said.“They mean business.You look at some of the big guys in our squad and go, ‘something good is coming’.We are all hoping that is going to materialise on Saturday.
“A few of us had a meeting last Wednesday and laid it bare.There are people in the squad who don’t feel they’ve pulled their weight or performed well enough.Once you get that out there, it’s about how you move forward.”England have also received words of inspiration from the two-time Olympic skeleton gold medallist Matt Weston.The 29-year-old was the favourite for gold at Milan-Cortina and lived up to his billing, having fallen short at the Beijing Winter Olympics four years ago.
“He spoke about Beijing and how he felt like he’d really let everyone down,” Earl said.“He spoke about a big push to get to the Olympics just gone and about his four-year plan.Obviously that made boys’ ears prick up with talk of World Cup cycles.Then we went on to say what he had to do to be in the best place for that Olympics and the hardships he went through in those four years.The boys here were thinking: ‘That’s exactly what we’re going through.
’”Meanwhile, the Six Nations trophy has been damaged beyond repair in a vehicle fire in Ireland, organisers have announced.No one was injured in the accident, which took place after the third round, and the remains of the trophy will be used to create a new piece of silverware.It will not be ready in time for presentation this year, however, meaning the winners will receive a replica.
OpenAI to work with Pentagon after Anthropic dropped by Trump over company’s ethics concerns
OpenAI said it had struck a deal with the Pentagon to supply AI to classified US military networks, hours after Donald Trump ordered the government to stop using the services of one of the company’s main competitors.Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, announced the move on Friday night. It came after an agreement between Anthropic, a rival AI company that runs the Claude system, and the Trump administration broke down after Anthropic sought assurances its technology would not be used for mass surveillance – nor for autonomous weapons systems that can kill people without human input.Announcing the deal, Altman insisted that OpenAI’s agreement with the government included assurances that it would not be used to those ends.“Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems,” Altman wrote on X
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Suicide forum found to be in breach of Online Safety Act after failing to block UK users
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OpenAI announces $110bn funding round that would value firm at $840bn
OpenAI said on Friday it is raising $110bn in a blockbuster funding round that would value the ChatGPT maker at $840bn, in a deal that signals the feverish pace of investment in artificial intelligence.It’s more than double the amount the company raised last year, when it racked up $40bn in the largest private tech deal on record.This year’s funding round, which is still open, includes a $30bn investment from SoftBank, $30bn from Nvidia, and $50bn from Amazon, and comes ahead of the AI startup’s expected mega-IPO later this year. Even more investors are expected to join.“We’re super excited about this deal,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC on Friday
Instagram to alert parents if teens repeatedly search self-harm terms
Instagram will start alerting parents if their kids repeatedly search for terms clearly associated with suicide or self-harm.The announcement on Thursday comes as Instagram’s parent company, Meta, is in the midst of two trials over harms to children.A trial under way in Los Angeles questions whether Meta’s platforms deliberately addict and harm minors. Another in New Mexico seeks to determine whether Meta failed to protect kids from sexual exploitation on its platforms.The alerts will only go to parents who are enrolled in Instagram’s parental supervision program
Jack Dorsey to cut 4,000 jobs due to AI advances at Square parent Block
Fintech company Block announced that it would be laying off 4,000 of its 10,000 employees because of gains in AI productivity.“Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Jack Dorsey, Block’s CEO, said in a letter to shareholders on Thursday. “We’re already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better. And intelligence tool capabilities are compounding faster every week
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