Is Nvidia’s DLSS 5 an AI slop machine or a game-changing technology that will take us closer to artists' original vision?

by · Creative Bloq

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Nvidia's DLSS 5 hasn't yet been released, but last week a leaked unfinished iteration of the new neural rendering technology surfaced online via an early-access PC build of NBA 2K27. Modders quickly got to work testing it in games like Control, Cyberpunk 2077 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and most weren't exactly impressed by what they saw.

Young characters suddenly looked aged and haggard because of extra detail and texture. Cloud from Final Fantasy VII becomes Scarlett Johansson in a Mötley Crüe wig. And the cost for such dubious graphical enhancements is a massive performance drop with tests throwing up frame rate reductions of up to 40–50%.

It's "objectively horrendous", one gamer argues. But some think there are cases where the tech could offer a genuine upgrade.

NEW DLSS 5 WORKING IN CONTROL GAME - Neural Uplift Mod - YouTube

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DLSS 5 Neural Rendering in GTA 5 – Graphics Comparison - YouTube

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DLSS 5 on RTX 4060 - Red Dead Redemption - Remastered by DLSS 5! - YouTube

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Nvidia's DLSS 5 AI controversy

Nvidia said back in March that its next-generation DLSS would bring "photorealism" to gaming through the use of a new generative AI model designed to enhance frames and add detail to lighting, textures and materials in real time. But the GPU maker's own early demo immediately sparked controversy by giving Grace from Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem a glamour makeover.

Now leaked through the nvngx_dlssnr.dll library via NBA 2K27, modders have been testing DLSS 5 for themselves and sharing the videos and screenshots on social media. Faces are the main area of contention, with some modders complaining that Nvidia's new tech makes characters look uncanny and AI-generated or makes them look older than they're supposed to be by sharpening skin texture.

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One ResetEra user called it "one of the most unsettling things I've ever laid my eyes on in gaming".

But, characters aside, other modders have found a lot to like in DLSS 5, particularly in the realism of environments, reflections and foliage in games like Ubisoft's Avatar.

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But the biggest debate is that around artist intent. One of the biggest criticisms of DLSS 5 has been the argument that Nvidia's tech is intervening between the artist and the player, changing what the artist intended.

But some developers disagree with that view. Writing on X, Daniel Vávra of Warhorse Studios, developer of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, argues that the tech doesn't alter the geometry of the models or the appearance of characters, and that, moreover, it can actually take a game closer to artists' visions by helping to overcome issues caused by the game engine's limited lighting system.

"It makes ambient occlusion look like it’s on steroids," Daniel wrties. "You have no idea how terribly—and I mean really, really—annoyed I was that in KCD2 we couldn’t render shadows from hats, hoods, and helmets on characters’ heads, or even shadows from small details on character models (buckles, laces, pouches). DLSS5 does this, and it does it absolutely brilliantly!. On top of that, it improves the rendering of shadows in hair, so they finally have the right density and darkness.

We also have to remember that this is an unfinished technology being tested in games that weren't built around it. Nvidia hasn't said when DLSS 5 will be officially released. It's also assumed that support will be limited to the current RTX 50 series of GPUs (see our guide to the best graphics cards).