Hello @Residentx ,
I have always thought that our autotuning is a SAS creation (based on generally accepted research, of course).
The autotuning is tuning the settings of the (many) hyper-parameters of the model. It sets hyperparameter configurations.
Often it is a multi-objective optimization.
I believe (but I may be wrong here!) it is Local Search Optimization (and more in particular Genetic Algorithms).
Of course autotuning ON consumes more resources (including time) than autotuning OFF.
Beste regards,
Koen