Gaming Industry Veteran Calls DLSS 5 Critics "Dumb"

Georgian Avasilcutei believes that many individuals, despite lacking a deep understanding of graphics technology, nonetheless feel compelled to express their opinions on the matter.

NVIDIA's unveiling of DLSS 5 at the GTC 2026 conference triggered a significant reaction across the gaming community and social media platforms. Despite receiving favorable assessments from specialized journalists and developers, this latest iteration of upscaling and rendering technology became the focal point of intense discussions regarding the role of AI in video games.

On one side, prominent publications such as Digital Foundry, alongside various industry professionals, offered high praise for the technology's demonstration. Bethesda, for example, underscored that DLSS 5 remains entirely within the developers' control and serves as an optional feature.

Conversely, a segment of social media users vehemently criticized the new technology, dismissing it as "merely an AI filter" and accusing NVIDIA of compromising the original artistic vision of game developers.

Stepping forward to defend the technology was industry veteran and artist Georgian Avasilcutei, whose credits include titles like Remember Me, Life is Strange, Dishonored 2, and Hogwarts Legacy. He sharply rebuked DLSS 5's critics, stating that many of them fundamentally misunderstand how the technology actually functions.

According to Avasilcutei, DLSS 5 is not a generative AI that creates new images from scratch. Instead, it utilizes existing in-game data—such as geometry, textures, and light sources—to enhance the scene's lighting and shading. He emphasized that this process involves more accurate refinement of existing information, rather than "hallucinations" produced by a neural network.

To illustrate his point, Avasilcutei referenced his own work, comparing a character model rendered with standard rasterization against one using ray tracing. With more precise lighting and improved shaders, the character's skin and hair appear distinctly different—to the extent that the character seems transformed, even though its underlying geometry remains unchanged. He explained that DLSS 5 aims to deliver precisely these kinds of visual enhancements, but with significantly reduced computational demands.

In his criticism of opponents, the artist even invoked the Dunning-Kruger effect, suggesting that many critics are experiencing the peak of "Mount Stupid," forming superficial judgments about the technology simply because they encounter the term "AI."

Ultimately, the core argument presented by DLSS 5's proponents aligns with a concept familiar to any artist or photographer: how a face is perceived is profoundly influenced by its lighting.