NVIDIA outlines what developers will be able to change with DLSS 5

NVIDIA unveiled DLSS 5 at GTC 2026, and the new technology has been met with immense pushback from gamers, who are concerned their video games will be poisoned with "AI slop" currently taking over numerous social media platforms.

DLSS 5 is on its way to release sometime in Fall 2026, and during the announcement, NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang described this next generation of DLSS as the "GPT moment for graphics," a reference to the release of the first AI model. In its announcement of DLSS 5, NVIDIA states that the next-generation AI upscaler will be able to "bridge the divide between rendering and reality" by analyzing light sources, characters, hair, shadows, skin, and other aspects of a single frame.

Then, DLSS 5 processes real-time game data and produces an image that, in some cases, such as the one NVIDIA used to demonstrate the technology, can change an image's appearance almost entirely. The discrepancy between the original image and the result when DLSS 5 is turned on is evident in many of the examples NVIDIA showed, producing a result that is stunningly different, which has sparked a steadfast, defiant stance by gamers against the technology's adoption.

However, there are some things to point out. NVIDIA has outlined how developers will use the technology, if at all: developers will be able to tune the overall intensity of the upscaling that DLSS 5 applies, adjust the color, and adjust any masking or enhancements applied to specific areas of the image. So, if this is true, developers will be able to precisely adjust the in-game image, meaning NVIDIA's DLSS 5 won't completely abandon their original artistic design choices.

The pushback on the new technology appears to be mostly driven by the examples NVIDIA used in its press materials, not by the technology itself. All of these examples feature faces that have been drastically altered, and in some cases don't even really resemble the originals. These images are bordering on the uncanny valley, a psychological phenomenon that occurs when humans see human-like figures that appear almost, but not quite, human. This phenomenon elicits unease, eeriness, or even a disgust response.

While there has always been some pushback against AI entering the video game space, the community's response to DLSS 5 in particular was immediate and intense. I believe this is because NVIDIA has shown a stark difference in AI-altered human characters, and the big difference between DLSS 4 and DLSS 5 is that DLSS 5 is using generative AI, or is reinterpreting and generating what should be within any given image, while DLSS 4 is reconstructing what is already in the game without any external input. DLSS 4 = reconstruction / DLSS 5 = generation.

Personally, I believe a degree of skepticism is always healthy when approaching a new technology, but to dismiss it entirely before we have even seen it used in a game (besides promotional material) seems absurd, especially considering developers will have full control over the intensity of DLSS 5 in their games. With that in mind, wouldn't the DLSS 5 image the developers end up shipping also be their "artistic design choice", which would render the argument that "DLSS 5 is going to ruin the way the developers of the game intended their title to look like" moot?

Only time will tell, but what we know for sure is that NVIDIA more than likely didn't anticipate gamers holding pitchforks and torches when they unveiled DLSS 5.