Nvidia balanced the debut of its Vera CPU and NemoClaw agent stack against a wave of gamer backlash over its “cinematic” DLSS 5 technology.
Blake has over a decade of experience writing for the web, with a focus on mobile phones, where he covered the smartphone boom of the 2010s and the broader tech scene. When he’s not in front of a keyboard, you’ll most likely find him playing video games, watching horror flicks, or hunting down a good churro.
Nvidia’s GTC conference keynote on Monday centered on three blockbuster reveals from the AI chip giant, though not all of them received a warm reception from everyone in the industry.
An AI-upscaling technology, called DLSS 5, which gives video games a more cinematic experience, faced immediate backlash from gamers who accused it of dramatically altering characters’ faces, with some even comparing it to AI slop.
Another announcement was an open-source AI agent stack called NemoClaw, capable of running claws, or autonomous AI agents. CEO Jensen Huang highlighted a focus on its data center platform, Vera Rubin, and the trend toward agentic AI. He introduced a new, optimized processor called the Vera CPU, designed to handle agentic AI systems, physical AI and more.
If you missed the keynote on Monday, here are the three big announcements you need to know about.
DLSS 5: bringing AI-powered visual fidelity to games
Nvidia promised impressive advancements in computer graphics, including enhanced performance and image quality, through AI-powered upscaling to create highly realistic videos that look like a film.
According to Nvidia, DLSS 5 brings real-time neural rendering that “infuses pixels with photo-real lighting and materials.” The company says the AI model is trained to understand features such as characters, fabrics, translucent skin and environmental lighting systems — all from a single frame. DLSS 5 then generates upscaled visuals for the scene.
But the unveiling of DLSS 5 drew immediate scrutiny from gamers. “Nvidia’s DLSS 5.0 footage showed the tech dramatically changing how beloved characters look on the fly, seemingly without input from the game’s creators, which rubbed gamers the wrong way,” said CNET Managing Editor David Lumb.
Lumb noted that the infiltration of generative AI has generally received a chilly reception among gamers: “When they’ve gotten wind that a game has used the technology, they’ve turned on it pretty quickly.”
CEO Huang dismissed criticisms of DLSS 5, saying developers can fine-tune the model to match their creative vision rather than submitting to AI.
DLSS 5 will arrive this fall and will be supported by some major game developers, including Bethesda, Capcom, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Games. Some of the game titles that will receive the DLSS 5 treatment include Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Resident Evil: Requiem, Starfield, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.
NemoClaw: creating your own autonomous AI agent
Nvidia unveiled its own reference stack for the AI agent platform OpenClaw called NemoClaw, making it easy for anyone to get into the game of creating their own claws. NemoClaw enables a simple installation with a single command in the terminal, installing all the necessary components to get you started.
NemoClaw allegedly adds a layer of privacy with an “isolated sandbox” that uses policy-based guardrails to provide a more secure, private way to handle your data. It will also optimize always-on assistants so they can continue to perform tasks 24/7, especially on dedicated Nvidia hardware.
Watch this: Highlights From Nvidia’s GTC 2026 Keynote With Jensen Huang
Vera CPU: delivering efficiency and performance for the age of agentic AI
Nvidia unwrapped a new Vera CPU that brings double the efficiency and 50% faster than traditional CPUs today. The company says the CPU is built for the age of agentic AI and reinforcement learning.
The Vera CPU enables businesses to build AI factories that can expand agentic AI at scale, offering the highest single-thread performance and bandwidth per core, with founder and CEO Jensen Huang saying, “Vera is arriving at a turning point for artificial intelligence.”
The Vera Rubin platform itself isn’t new — we saw it at CES — but the latest CPU continues to bring Nvidia’s plans for agentic AI to life with serious power and headroom.
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Blake Stimac