Windows 11 Will Get Built-in AI Upscaler
Right now, if you want to take advantage of AI scaling in Windows, you’ll need to shell out some money for it. Companies like Nvidia offer AI scaling as part of their graphics cards, and without it, you’ll be stuck with the resolutions your computer can handle natively. However, it looks like Microsoft is changing things up. You’ll soon be able to scale your games right on Windows 11 without using your own GPU.
Twitter user PhantomOcean3 showed off the new AI zoom feature in a tweet. If you’re running Windows 11 version 24H2, which is currently in Insider Preview, you’ll find this option under Settings > System > Displays > Graphics . Windows calls this feature “Automatic Super Resolution” and says it uses artificial intelligence to “make supported games run smoother and with better detail.” While this feature isn’t live yet, it does indicate that built-in AI scaling is on the way.
As The Verge’s Tom Warren points out , this feature is reminiscent of AI upscalers from companies like AMD (FidelityFX), Intel (XeSS), and Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) in particular. If Windows’ built-in AI upscaler works close to what Nvidia, AMD, and Intel upscalers do, it could eliminate the need to have hardware from one of those companies in your setup to reap the benefits.
What’s so great about AI scaling?
The main benefit of built-in AI upscaling is the ability to render games at higher resolutions without the need for more advanced hardware. For example, if you’re running Windows 11 24H2 on your PC, you can use this feature to upscale a 1440p game to 4K instead of running the game at 4K natively. The latter tends to be more demanding on your GPU, and if your hardware is not powerful enough, you may experience slowdowns.
However, upscaling from 1440p resolution can allow you to see more detail without putting a strain on your system. And if Microsoft really wants to compete with companies like DLSS, they’ll realize other benefits as well. DLSS not only upscales the resolution from 1440p to 4K, but it also adds detail that’s missing when playing in 4K with DLSS disabled, and increases the frame rate by using artificial intelligence to “guess” what the extra frames should look like. Let’s hope Windows 11’s AI scaling feature offers similar benefits, but at least it’s nice to see Microsoft lowering the bar for access to this kind of technology.