‘This is horrifying’: Nvidia’s controversial DLSS 5 AI filter leaks and players are inserting it into every game

Nvidia’s controversial new DLSS 5 technology has leaked, and players are implementing it into every game they can.

Whereas previous iterations of DLSS used AI to upscale game resolution or improve frame rates, DLSS 5 uses an AI model to alter the visuals of supported games with what Nvidia calls “photoreal lighting and materials”.

When it was announced earlier this year, Nvidia said, “DLSS 5 takes a game’s color and motion vectors for each frame as input, and uses an AI model to infuse the scene with photoreal lighting and materials that are anchored to source 3D content and consistent from frame to frame.”

Players were highly critical of the new technology, which led to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang addressing complaints during a press Q&A, saying, “Well, first of all, they’re completely wrong. The reason for that is because, as I have explained very carefully, DLSS 5 fuses controllability of the geometry and textures and everything about the game with generative AI.”

DLSS 5 is now “available” thanks to being included in the dll library in NBA 2K27. Players found the necessary files and immediately got to work on porting the technology to other games to see what happens.

Fans have uncovered that the new Neural Rendering in DLSS 5 has seven presets, each of which comes with different levels of aggression, as demonstrated by SwurvGaming.

This is not officially released software and may change ahead of the full launch, but it is now at least able to run on a single GPU, even if framerate can be halved depending on your card.

SwurvGaming also tried DLSS 5 with Cyberpunk 2077, and viewers were broadly more positive, saying “This only gonna get better and better in future. This has insane potential. Already looks nice in certain parts. Damn, I’m impressed.”

Fans on the ResetEra forum have been trialling the new technology on several classic games, including Control and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

The image of DLSS 5 Cloud Strife elicited reactions including “Eww!” and “The real slim shady? This is horrifying” on ResetEra.

Others online have been sharing a before-and-after image of The Last of Us Part 2’s Ellie, to which a fan remarked, “Made her look 40.”

YouTuber Florian Schollbrock has uploaded cutscenes from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, showing DLSS 5 on and off.

Note that the DLSS 5 off version of this cutscene is using the Shader Injector mod, and seemingly other mods too.

DLSS 5 was strongly criticised by many as a “garbage filter” when it was revealed in March 2026.

The tech’s reveal was also met with significant criticism on social media from games industry professionals, partly due to how it drastically alters the original art direction of its supported games.

Games industry voices like Danny O’Dwyer said at the time, “Weird that this impressive lighting tech also randomly turns everyone into yassified, looks-maxed freaks. It’s like all this technology can’t help itself but sexualize everything it touches.”

Steve Karolewics, a rendering engineer at Respawn, wrote: “DLSS 5 looks like an overbearing contrast, sharpness, and airbrush filter. Remarkably different frames with the rationale of photo-real lighting? Nah, I think I’ll stick with the original artistic intent.”

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang deflected widespread criticism of DLSS 5, claiming that detractors of the AI technology are “completely wrong”.

“The reason for that is because, 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.