DLSS 5 backlash: Nvidia’s CEO says gamers are ‘completely wrong’

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”.

Many users hate it.

Huang dropped the announcement of DLSS 5 into a a brief segment of an hours-long keynote address at the GTC conference in San Jose, most dealing with the cloud, AI, and powerful AI workstations. But it’s the visuals that have sparked controversy, as they appear to almost apply a generative AI “skin” on top of the rendered game model. It’s most noticeable with characters — characters that are quite familiar to users. Even some of the small tweaks that the tool applied provoked online criticism of “AI slop.”

Hunag claimed that all of the generative AI capabilities will be subject to the control of the developer themselves. “It’s not post-processing, it’s not post-processing at the frame level, it’s generative control at the geometry level,” he told the audience.

Huang’s comments hearkened back to Apple’s “Antennagate” controversy, where users who held the iPhone 4 could end up interfering with the phone’s antennas and the signal reception. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs told users to avoid holding the iPhone in a way that the interference would occur, and the phrase “You’re holding it wrong” — though perhaps misattributed to Jobs — became part of Apple lore.

Unfortunately, Nvidia’s casual introduction of the DLSS 5 technology, landing in the middle of an audience which has become extremely polarized about AI, means that Huang’s statement will be brought up again until Nvidia finally starts explaining what DLSS 5 is and why customers and developers need it. DLSS 5 is expected to launch this fall.

PCWorld staff discussed the DLSS 5 pros, cons, and backlash for over an hour on our Full Nerd podcast this afternoon. Check out our hot takes and level-headed nuanced takes alike in the video below.