Nvidia CEO Responds on DLSS 5 Backlash, Says Developers Stay in Full Control

The latest AI-powered graphics feature in Nvidia, DLSS 5 has sparked a wave of backlash from players and game developers alike and now the company’s CEO is responding directly.

DLSS 5 is the newest version of Nvidia’s machine learning technology, but it works differently from its predecessors. Rather than boosting resolution or frame rates, it uses an AI model to rework the visuals of supported games running on Nvidia GPUs. Nvidia describes the effect as adding “photoreal lighting and materials” to games.

The announcement did not land well. Many players and people working in the games industry raised concerns that DLSS 5 appears to significantly change the original look and feel of the games it supports. In Nvidia’s own announcement video, the technology visibly transforms the appearance of characters and environments in games like Resident Evil Requiem, Starfield, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

At a press Q&A with Tom’s Hardware during GTC 2026, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang addressed the criticism head-on. “Well, first of all, they’re completely wrong,” he said, going on to explain that DLSS 5 is built around giving developers control rather than taking it away.

Huang said the technology “fuses controllability of geometry and textures and everything about the game with generative AI,” and that developers can fine-tune it to match their game’s specific visual style. He was firm that the feature does not override a developer’s creative decisions. “It doesn’t change the artistic control,” he said.

He also pushed back on the idea that DLSS 5 is simply a visual filter applied after the fact. “It’s not post-processing at the frame level, it’s generative control at the geometry level,” Huang explained, calling it “neural rendering” and describing it as “content-control generative AI” rather than standard generative AI.

Nvidia also responded directly to criticism in the comments section of its YouTube announcement video, clarifying that the DLSS 5 SDK includes tools for developers to adjust intensity, apply color grading, and block the effect from areas where it should not appear.

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