By Michael Kan
Publication Date: 2026-03-17 15:29:00
Remember the huge graphical leaps we’d get moving from one console generation to the next? Those days are over…or so we thought.
Nvidia’s newly announced—and already controversial—DLSS 5 may be the graphics jump that gamers have been waiting for.
At Nvidia’s GTC event, I was able to try a demo of DLSS 5, and the technology wowed me several times, making me wonder: Am I staring at the future of gaming graphics?
DLSS 5: Promise and Controversy
DLSS is best known for using AI models to increase a PC game’s frame rate for smoother gameplay. But on Monday, Nvidia introduced DLSS 5, which uses a “neural rendering” model to add photorealistic effects. The company has been quietly developing the technology for over three years, and the result can make game characters feel startlingly alive by injecting even more shadows, textures, and definition over faces, clothes, and environments, creating a new sense of depth.
DLSS 5 on and off for the game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. (Credit: PCMag)
But despite the improvements, Nvidia’s DLSS 5 announcement has already received some backlash over concerns that the GPU maker is merely adding an Instagram-like image filter over game-character faces. Another criticism is that DLSS 5 is acting like an AI slop generator and allegedly forcing AI imagery on top of carefully crafted characters created by game developers.
Those worries were on my mind as Nvidia gave me a closer look at…