What innovations should a new generation of video games bring with it? Bigger worlds? Faster load times? GPU maker Nvidia has an answer that I bet you’ve never thought of: What if you paid thousands of dollars for a computer graphics chip that makes it seem like you’ve put a Snapchat beauty filter over everything?
At Nvidia GTC Live 2026 on Monday, the AI-focused company unveiled DLSS 5, which Nvidia claims is “the most significant breakthrough in computer graphics since the debut of real-time ray tracing in 2018.” Reactions to that tech have been… mixed.
The tech wizards at Digital Foundry recently uploaded a video that breaks down Nvidia’s DLSS 5 technology, which is exclusive to its upcoming RTX 50-series computer chips. It’s full of comparison shots that show what games like Resident Evil Requiem and Starfield would look like with DLSS 5 turned on and off. The tech is powered by machine learning that Nvidia describes in a press release as “real-time neural rendering model that infuses pixels with photoreal lighting and materials.” DLSS does not, however, alter any of the geometry or texture assets, according to Digital Foundry.
You wouldn’t know that from looking at the results, however. With DLSS, human character designs seem to transmute into someone else entirely. It almost seems like what you’d get after prompting an AI to come up with a realistic video game character. Everything comes out outrageous and yassified.
