NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang says he understands where the DLSS 5 backlash is 'coming from'

Sitting down for an extended discussion on the Lex Fridman podcast, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang responded (again) to the criticisms surrounding the company's recent DLSS 5 announcement. DLSS 5's reveal, which is designed to take game data and transform rendered images to deliver photorealistic lighting that wouldn't be possible with current hardware, has sparked widespread backlash over how the AI model seemingly changes the look of characters.

As seen in the example above from Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem, the main issue raised by the wider gaming community and media alike centers on how it makes characters look different. To the point where it's being referred to as an AI filter that gives characters like Grace a look similar to several AI-generated images circulating on social media depicting attractive people.

"I think their perspective makes sense," Jensen Huang said when asked by Lex Fridman about the response to DLSS 5. "And I could see where they're coming from because I don't love AI slop myself. You know, all of the AI-generated content increasingly looks similar, and they're all beautiful, so I'm empathetic toward what they're thinking. That's just not what DLSS 5 is trying to do."

That last bit, of course, is all about how NVIDIA has presented and subsequently defended DLSS 5. The company states that DLSS 5 doesn't alter object geometry, and developers have the tools to fine-tune the end result and even choose which elements in a scene the technology is applied to. "The artist determines the geometry, we are completely truthful to the geometry," Jensen Huang continued. "So every single frame, it enhances, but it doesn't change anything."

"I think that they got the impression that the games are going to come out the way the games are," Jensen Huang clarifies. "And then we're going to post-process it. That's not what DLSS is intended to do."

With all the backlash surrounding the reveal, and with the launch of DLSS 5 on track for Fall 2025, it will be interesting to see how it evolves from this early look. And to see if any of the feedback sees NVIDIA or game developers dial down the "make characters look photo-realistic" effect. In his discussion with Lex Fridman, Jensen Huang hinted at the future of DLSS 5 and one possible scenario being developers simply using it to improve skin detail with sub-surface scattering. He also noted that developers and artists could eventually prompt the DLSS 5 model to create effects like a "toon shader" that's consistent with the "artistry, the style, the intent of the artist."