When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Samples of DLSS 5 applied to games like NBA 2K27 and Resident Evil Requiem have raised concerns the graphical tech is basically a demanding AI algorithm that can yassify the look of games and interfere with the intent of game artists. But after trying it myself, I'm not so sure it's that big a deal...or that I have the willpower to stop using it. I don't know about you, but I was pretty leery of Nvidia's new DLSS 5 tech when we first started seeing samples of how it can change the appearance of games in real time. I didn't like the idea of Nvidia algorithmically injecting new details into my games that change the way they look, and I was afraid of the "yassifying" effect we saw it apply in titles like .

The technology raises concerns about whether AI-generated visuals preserve a developer's original artistic intent, with some users calling for a dedicated "developer intended" visual mode. According to PCWorld, AI upscaling is becoming essential as hardware costs rise, though the debate over visual accuracy versus performance remains unresolved. Nvidia's controversial DLSS 5 is out this week, and it was a big topic of discussion in this week's episode of The Full Nerd. While I haven't had a chance to test it out myself, by the time you read this I'll be furiously updating my Nvidia drivers and seriously considering splurging on a copy of just to get a look at the earliest game to launch with official DLSS 5 support. I'm curious to see if the reported performance dips that come with enabling DLSS 5 are actually counteracted by Nvidia tech like Multi-Frame Generation, and I want to see what kind of tuning the player can do to adjust how DLSS 5's new real-time AI model upscales game graphics.

Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series What is NVIDIA's DLSS 5 and why is it so controversial? NVIDIA launches DLSS 5 on Sept. 3, promising more realistic graphics. Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and .

It's hard to recall a feature that's been as instantly reviled as NVIDIA's DLSS 5, a new version of its AI upscaling technology that can modify character models and environments to chase the specter of "photorealism." NVIDIA calls it progress, but the initial examples from Resident Evil: Requiem and Starfield were uncanny misfires. Now, NVIDIA is gearing up to finally launch DLSS 5 alongside NBA 2K27 on September 3. And judging from the wildly negative responses to recent leaks of the technology, it's going to face a tough crowd. I had serious doubts about DLSS 5 at first, but after seeing some remote demonstrations of the tech from Gamescom, my hackles have cooled a bit. Sure, it's an AI tool that could be used to obscenely yassify a fragile character suffering from PTSD, like it did for Resident Evil: Requiem's co-lead Grace.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Nvidia's DLSS 5 makes NBA 2K27 look incredibly real, which is kind of the problem NBA 2K27 shows off DLSS 5's impressive new realism -- and hints at a future where animation, not graphics, becomes gaming's weakest link. That sounds weird, but hear me out. Nvidia showed me and other journalists an early preview of 2K's NBA 2K27 ahead of the game's September 4 launch, because NBA 2K27 will also mark the debut of Nvidia's DLSS 5 technology, which applies AI models to rendered game scenes to drastically improve realism. It's the little things that sell it. Shadows fell naturally across Haliburton's hand as it gripped the ball.

Take Jesse Faden from Control, one of the first games to get the unofficial DLSS 5 treatment. In the game, she's supposed to be roughly 28. But after applying a little DLSS 5 magic, she suddenly looks middle-aged. You can kinda see how the AI could get there from the original face. But it still misses the mark, simultaneously looking more real and more fake. Then we have Skyrim (because, no matter the subject, we'll always have Skyrim).

Nvidia's new AI upscaling gaming technology struck gamers as uncanny and off-putting. Developers don't seem to like it, either, but it could be "the default" in a few years. Nvidia announced a new version of its DLSS AI upscaling technology for its graphics cards earlier this week at its GPU Technology Conference (GTC), which it calls the Super Bowl of AI . But unlike previous versions of DLSS that used AI to improve frame rates in video games, DLSS 5 has a much more ambitious calling: using generative AI to make character faces in games look more realistic and detailed. The demonstration received sharp blowback on social media, with many finding the effect off-putting, reacting with outright disgust, and calling it yet another example of AI slop .

PCWorld reports that Nvidia's DLSS 5 announcement caught major game developers from Ubisoft and Capcom off-guard, who were unaware their games would be featured in demonstrations. The generative AI technology faces significant backlash from gamers who criticize it as an "AI filter" that potentially devalues game aesthetics and may require two high-end GPUs. Despite being planned for fall 2026 release, DLSS 5 already raises concerns about artistic control and whether developers want this AI-enhanced visual processing in their games. Nvidia DLSS 5 is coming later this year, adding generative "AI" features to the performance-enhancing tech . Gamers are calling the tool an "Instagram yaas filter" and "AI slop," among other, less kind terms. The way that it adds detail to faces and seems to hijack -- or replace?

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. When AI starts redrawing characters and lighting, who's really in control of the art? Because it makes a game look how Nvidia thinks it should look--and uses AI to do it. Nvidia's newly-announced DLSS 5 is an Nvidia feature that injects new details like textures and lighting via generative AI into supported games, all done using the GPU. It's quickly become the focal point of an increasingly vicious battle between human artists and AI.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang defends DLSS 5 against user backlash, calling critics "completely wrong" about the generative AI graphics technology's function. PCWorld notes the controversy stems from concerns that DLSS 5 applies an "AI skin" over game models rather than true enhancement. Huang clarifies DLSS 5 offers developers controllability at the geometry level, describing it as real-time neural rendering that infuses photorealism into pixels. In just a day, Nvidia's DLSS 5 technology has become the hot button for most of the PC and gaming world. Now Nvidia's chief executive has weighed in, claiming that everyone is "completely wrong" about the technology. At a question-and-answer session at Nvidia's own Game Technology Conference, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said that "as I have explained very carefully, DLSS 5 fuses controllability of the of geometry and textures and everything about the game with generative AI," he said. Huang went on to say of the controversy: "They're completely wrong." Nvidia's DLSS 5 has sparked controversy because it essentially applies a generative AI filter to computer graphics. Nvidia describes DLSS 5 as a "real-time neural rendering model that infuses pixels with photoreal lighting and materials," and a "GPT moment for graphics -- blending hand-crafted rendering with generative AI".