Insyde software announces AI BIOS!

[remixedcat]

Would you trust AI BIOS??

here's their announcement:

Insyde® Software Brings Higher Intelligence to PCs with aiBIOS™ Technology To Be Shown at Computex Taipei

First-of-its-Kind “Smart BIOS” Harnesses AI Capabilities to Deliver Configurability and User Experience Improvements

COMPUTEX TAIPEI – June 4, 2024 – Insyde® Software, a leading provider of UEFI BIOS and OpenBMC-based systems management firmware, today announced aiBIOS™, the industry’s first AI-powered firmware-assist technology. Adaptable to a broad set of applications and usage scenarios within the company’s UEFI firmware, the first implementation of the technology is aimed at assisting end-users and automating configuration of the BIOS Setup process.

aiBIOS leverages an LLM to integrate AI capabilities into Insyde Software’s flagship firmware solution, InsydeH2O® UEFI BIOS. It provides the ability to interpret the PC user’s request, analyze their specific hardware, and parse through the LLM’s extensive knowledge base of BIOS and computer terminology to make the appropriate changes to the BIOS Setup. This breakthrough technology helps address a major hurdle for PC users that require or desire changes to their BIOS Setup for their personal computers but do not fully understand the meaning of the settings available to them.

The aiBIOS technology can also be leveraged by computer manufacturers to enhance end-user technical support, providing the capability to enhance the support experience for end-users and support staff with quick, correct responses that can help reduce and/or shorten technical support calls.

“aiBIOS provides new ways for how people interact with and maximize the potential of their PC, while also reducing the burden on manufacturer customer support,” said Jeremy Wang, Chairman and CEO of Insyde Software. “We believe this exciting new AI-powered firmware-assist technology will help our customers deliver even more valuable computing experiences to market,” added Wang.

For more details and demonstrations of aiBIOS™ technology, Insyde Software is meeting its customers and partners on the 12th floor of The Place Taipei Hotel, in Taipei, Taiwan, starting June 4th through June 7th, 2024. Visitors planning to attend can contact their Insyde Account Manager to arrange an appointment.

About Insyde Software
Insyde Software (www.insyde.com) is a leading worldwide provider of UEFI BIOS and OpenBMC-based systems management firmware, systems management solutions and custom engineering services for companies in the mobile, server, desktop and IoT (Internet-of-Things) computing industries. The company is publicly held (6231.TWO) and headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan with U.S. headquarters in Westborough, MA. The company’s customers include the world’s leading computing, communications and storage device designers and manufacturers.

 

[Dr. Dro]

No. It is called a "Basic Input/Output System" for a reason, and nothing about "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" implies any need whatsoever for the use of artificial intelligence in its operation

 

[remixedcat]

No. It is called a "Basic Input/Output System" for a reason, and nothing about "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" implies any need whatsoever for the use of artificial intelligence in its operation

And the more basic it is the less chances of failure

Not to mention increasing the attack surface too

 

[LabRat 891]

The only way this marketing makes sense, is on the 'development' side. Using AI/MI tools to help build firmware, makes some sense.
Having some form of AI/MI integrated into BIOS/UEFI, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, (and, as mentioned) seems like a huge invitation for security problems.

 

[InVasMani]

Depends what it entails, but probably not for anything vitally important. I think it's far more important that MB makers actually adhere to AMD/INTEL reference guidance instead of risking system stability to create some type of benchmark competitive edge for their MB relative to competition in a synthetic benchmark by a fraction of a percent.

 

[remixedcat]

Depends what it entails, but probably not for anything vitally important. I think it's far more important that MB makers actually adhere to AMD/INTEL reference guidance instead of risking system stability to create some type of benchmark competitive edge for their MB relative to competition in a synthetic benchmark by a fraction of a percent.

like what Asus did w the unstable OC by default setting?

 

[Double-Click]

It's a BIOS so as they say, KISS - keep it simple stupid.

 

[InVasMani]

It's a BIOS so as they say, KISS - keep it simple stupid.

The AI "It's a BIOS: Simp Stup Eep It..."

 

[AusWolf]

"Option X: enable / disable". How is AI going to help with this?

 

[wNotyarD]

like what Asus did w the unstable OC by default setting?

Doesn't ASUS already call their settings AI Tweaker? Guess there'll be more AI involved in frying processors from now on.

 

[remixedcat]

Doesn't ASUS already call their settings AI Tweaker? Guess there'll be more AI involved in frying processors from now on.

Really?? I dunno but I know they had some bad defaults that fried cpus

 

[JWNoctis]

Sounds like a regular BIOS with a self-contained LLM runtime stapled on as tech support.

Could be helpful with basic things like "You have XMP profile, do you want it enabled?" or "Are you sure you want 253W PL1? <followed by three paragraphs of spiel about heat and shortened component lifetime>" et cetera, despite the fact that most of it could be done without AI of any sort.

God forbid it actually hallucinating. As a taste, here's one fresh off the LLM press:

"PBO thermal point" is a setting that controls the power-on thermal monitoring (PBO) feature.

Power-on thermal monitoring is a safety feature that helps to prevent damage to the CPU and other components from overheating...

 

[InVasMani]

As far as a Asus and Tweak It yes they have a bios option for that. If I remember right it works akin to like old EVGA GPU OC software essentially and not much else. I honestly don't remember the finer details of me saying naw I'm good I'm not using that and placing my faith in that OC is enough of a gamble w/o letting the AI roll the dice for you on how and where to void your warranty in which ways.

 

[Assimilator]

I don't know about y'all, but the thing I dread most about building a new system is having to learn where that manufacturer has decided to locate various settings in their particular godawful flavour of UEFI UI. For example, enabling virtualisation on AMD CPUs (which defaults to off because AMD are idiots) is invariably buried multiple menu layers deep and invariably named differently. If an LLM can help me find those settings without forcing me to resort to Google to find them, then sure, go ahead and embed one - although I'd be very interested to see how useful an LLM they can fit into a BIOS-sized payload, which is usually measured in megabytes.

Would any of this be necessary if motherboard manufacturers agreed to not be asshats and designed a common UEFI UI layout that just had their skin slapped on it? No, it wouldn't. But asshats are unfortunately what they are.

 

[DaemonForce]

Your issue is virtualization settings getting buried? They're usually under CPU options next to SMT.
My issue is this stinks of a dystopic future of a Type 3 Hypervisor that is enabled by default, cannot be turned off, commands things like Secure Boot, boost clocks and multiple types of virtualization technologies as well as SR-IOV and IOMMU. I do NOT want this junk anywhere near my equipment. The day it comes is the day I'm out of this computer hobby forever.

Literally keep it simple for a reason if not SEVERAL OF THEM.

 

[Assimilator]

Your issue is virtualization settings getting buried? They're usually under CPU options next to SMT.

If this was true I wouldn't be complaining about it.

 

[P4-630]

"Option X: enable / disable". How is AI going to help with this?

It may have some sort of "chat" help function in the BIOS.

 

[remixedcat]

I don't know about y'all, but the thing I dread most about building a new system is having to learn where that manufacturer has decided to locate various settings in their particular godawful flavour of UEFI UI. For example, enabling virtualisation on AMD CPUs (which defaults to off because AMD are idiots) is invariably buried multiple menu layers deep and invariably named differently. If an LLM can help me find those settings without forcing me to resort to Google to find them, then sure, go ahead and embed one - although I'd be very interested to see how useful an LLM they can fit into a BIOS-sized payload, which is usually measured in megabytes.

Would any of this be necessary if motherboard manufacturers agreed to not be asshats and designed a common UEFI UI layout that just had their skin slapped on it? No, it wouldn't. But asshats are unfortunately what they are.

dell's graphical bios puts everything in the same place for most of their models... most latitude,precision, have the settings in the same place. some inspiron, xps as well.. if the systems uses dells own bios.

sometimes they will use insyde h20 on inspirons, xps, vostro, and G series and at least they pretty much leave it stock looking and not mess w much

thier servers have thier own bios as well that has a very different ui.


hp mostly uses insyde h20 for most of thier stuff but they really lock it down to where there's no advanced tabs even on probook or elite book

lenovo uses a mix of insyde and thier own bios

this is how very simple their bios allready is you don't need AI for it

 

[AusWolf]

It may have some sort of "chat" help function in the BIOS.

So instead of enabling X function with one click, I can chat with the LLM saying "can you please enable X function" to which the LLM will reply "I would gladly do that for you". How delightful!

 

[:D:D]

Having some form of AI/MI integrated into BIOS/UEFI, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, (and, as mentioned) seems like a huge invitation for security problems.

Sorry, I just cannot imagine AI being run from the UEFI but rather ran as an app on the OS which applies the UEFI settings from there and reboot to take effect. Do you have information saying it is run pre POST?

Seems it might be useful especially if there is a large data base built that gives a better idea of what works well and what doesn't.

Me: AI set my DRAM for lowest latency. 
AI: Done, please reboot for settings to take affect.

 

[remixedcat]

Sorry, I just cannot imagine AI being run from the UEFI but rather ran as an app on the OS which applies the UEFI settings from there and reboot to take effect. Do you have information saying it is run pre POST?

Seems it might be useful especially if there is a large data base built that gives a better idea of what works well and what doesn't.

Me: AI set my DRAM for lowest latency.
AI: Done, please reboot for settings to take affect.

I reached out to them to explain more and they have not responded via any of their email addresses. I asked the same question.

 

[JWNoctis]

Sorry, I just cannot imagine AI being run from the UEFI but rather ran as an app on the OS which applies the UEFI settings from there and reboot to take effect. Do you have information saying it is run pre POST?

Seems it might be useful especially if there is a large data base built that gives a better idea of what works well and what doesn't.

Me: AI set my DRAM for lowest latency.
AI: Done, please reboot for settings to take affect.

Knowing how existing features of such kind that used static collections of presumably known-good-elsewhere timings worked and don't work, such a feature - automatic optimization of memory timings and presumably other things like core and memory voltages - would probably need an actual baseboard controller to handle the reboots, no-boots, and stability tests, if they would fully automate that.

A baseboard controller definitely won't have the performance to do local inference, though that may well change if some were to make one with NPU and 16GB of RAM. There's probably a business opportunity here, but that's not what this AI BIOS is.

If such a feature relied on remote service i.e. there's a baseboard controller that independently connects to a remote service for BIOS configuration and other things, then...it is a whole can of worms I'm not opening.

 

[thesmokingman]

WHY???

Next stop AI toasters who will look at your morning face and determine how dark to toast??

 

[remixedcat]

WHY???

Next stop AI toasters who will look at your morning face and determine how dark to toast??

we have ai toothbrushes and ai rice cookers so that's not too far off lol

 

[:D:D]

@JWNoctis I'm behind the times with my newest board and CPU being a decade old now so lacking in knowledge. However with this old board UEFI has a feature if it doesn't POST 2 or 3 times in a row then defaults are loaded and asked wether to enter BIOS settings or continue so this could be incorparated.

IIRC Intel XTU had also had been around at that time and if their profile module existed in the UEFI it could save BIOS settings from Windows OS. Actually there was a lot you could do to BIOS settings from Windows around that time but that's another story.
See https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/overclocking-xtu-guide.html
Seems they also introduced AI for XTU in January.