"Gigabyte is an AI company" now—and the gaming hardware seems to have taken a back seat

Gigabyte held its «Gigabyte Unleashed» event today at Computex 2024. There was a small display of motherboards mounted to walls, some new OLED screens to stare at lovingly, and a smattering of gaming laptops, pushed off in a corner like they hadn't really been invited. All the usual suspects you'd expect from a Gigabyte unveiling.

Plenty to talk about for our speakers then, you would think. And you'd be wrong. Instead, I and the assembled press were treated to a long presentation introducing «Gigabyte AI TOP», an «all around solution» to «win advantages ahead of traditional AI training methods». As for the exciting new hardware? If it wasn't AI related, it very much took a back seat. 

For diligence, let's start out with Gigabyte's AI TOP Utility, essentially a tool and user interface that helps you train your own AI models. Why this was the first focus of the event, and our host was so excited, remains unclear.

«It's so easy,» says the presenter, as he demonstrates a complicated sequence of menus, sliders and checkboxes. «Even a novice can easily adjust parameters and optimise model training with just a few clicks.»

Carefully dodging the inferred question, of course, of exactly how many people would really need it. If you're somebody familiar with the intricacies of building an AI model, I suppose having a user interface that's something other than damned unintuitive may well be a boon.

But for a room full of tech journos, surrounded by motherboards, OLED monitors, and gaming laptops that look much more interesting, it went down like a lead balloon. And this was just the beginning. Some 20 minutes later—as yet more menus were revealed—our host had definitely lost the crowd. 

People began to chat among themselves. Sniggers were heard. I saw someone get up for sandwiches and coffee, mid-presentation. Twice. A faux pas at most events when someone is speaking, I think it's fair to say. Here, I empathised.

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