The developer known for its graphics cards has surprised many with its latest release, and not in a good way.
The American tech company NVIDIA, best known for making graphics processors, is catching some flack from gamers lately. According to BBC, the reason is the new DLSS 5 graphics card technology, which uses AI to generate game graphics.
NVIDIA introduced DLSS 5 on March 16. They describe it as a technology that “brings photorealistic lighting and materials into pixels to bridge the gap between rendering and reality.”
“Twenty-five years after NVIDIA invented the programmable shader, we're reinventing computer graphics again,” said NVIDIA's founder and CEO, Jensen Huang.
You can toggle this feature on and off, but it only works with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 cards and higher. These graphics cards range from about 749.90 to 3,519 €.
According to Jensen Huang, DLSS 5 combines handcrafted rendering with generative AI to bring a dramatic leap in visual realism while preserving the control artists need for creative expression.
DLSS 5 will be supported by the major game publishers and developers in the industry, including Bethesda, CAPCOM, Hotta Studio, NetEase, NCSOFT, S-GAME, Tencent, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Games.
Gamers Aren't Thrilled
Even though NVIDIA claims this feature transforms the gaming industry for the better, gamers have started a wave of backlash.
They call DLSS 5 an “AI slop,” erasing unique character traits. Some think game studios might use these tools to cut costs, potentially leading to layoffs of graphic designers replaced by generative AI. Others don't like the “forceful push of generative AI.”
The negative reactions to AI technologies are partly due to high memory chip prices (RAM) that have spiked because of extreme demand from AI data centers.
Memes are circulating online that parody the use of DLSS 5 before and after:
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NVIDIA Responds to Criticism
NVIDIA's founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, says gamers are wrong. According to Tom's Hardware, when asked about the criticism, he responded:
“The reason is, as I’ve explained in detail, DLSS 5 combines the controllability of geometry, textures, and everything about the game with generative AI,” Huang continued.
He added that developers can still “fine-tune the generative AI” to their preferred style. DLSS 5 adds generative capabilities to the existing game geometry but “doesn't change the artistic control.”
“It's all under control – direct control – of the game developer. This is very different from generative AI; it's generative AI with content control. That's why we call it neural rendering,” he said.
