Real-time ray tracing has changed gaming graphics since its introduction in 2018 when specialized hardware first made it possible in consumer devices. This technology, which simulates how light interacts with objects by tracing light paths, has evolved rapidly through AI integration, creating unprecedented realism while addressing traditional performance limitations.
AI’s Transformative Impact on Rendering
AI has fundamentally altered rendering workflows through several key technologies. NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) has become the industry benchmark for AI-based upscaling, now in its fourth generation. DLSS 4 is available in over 100 games and apps, making it the most rapidly adopted NVIDIA game technology ever, as announced at GDC 2025. AMD’s competing FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) offers similar capabilities across a broader range of hardware.
Performance metrics demonstrate AI’s substantial impact. In benchmarks using F1 22 on an entry-level RTX 3050 system, enabling ray tracing dropped performance to 43fps. Adding DLSS boosted this to 68fps (a 58% improvement), while disabling ray tracing but keeping DLSS enabled achieved 125fps. These numbers illustrate how AI technologies can mitigate ray tracing’s performance costs.
The Rise in Popularity of AI For Rendering
These solutions have proven particularly valuable in Canadian game studios, where developers at companies like BioWare and Ubisoft Montreal have used AI rendering to create visually stunning titles while maintaining performance targets.
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Adopting similar technologies for their 3D game interfaces and utilizing AI upscaling to deliver high-resolution experiences on lower-end devices while reducing bandwidth requirements by up to 35% can become a trend in the near future. This could significantly impact the development and look of the various slot games available on these platforms.
Neural Rendering Advancements
Neural rendering represents a significant breakthrough, using AI models trained on rendered scenes to predict and generate images while bypassing traditional rendering steps. NVIDIA’s RTX Neural Shaders, introduced in 2025, allow developers to train and deploy tiny neural networks within shaders to generate textures, materials, lighting, and volumetric effects with dramatically improved performance.
AI-powered denoising algorithms reconstruct clear images from fewer samples, reducing the computational burden of high-quality rendering.
Future Trends and Industry Adoption
The integration of AI with ray tracing is accelerating across multiple sectors. In March 2025, NVIDIA announced a partnership with Microsoft to bring neural shading support to DirectX 12 Agility SDK in April 2025, expanding access to these capabilities. Major engines like Unreal 5 are receiving dedicated neural rendering plugins, democratizing these tools for developers of all sizes.
Cyberpunk 2077 Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode represented a milestone as “the world’s first path-traced AAA title,” showcasing where the industry is headed. Path tracing, a more comprehensive form of ray tracing, has traditionally been reserved for offline rendering due to computational demands, but AI acceleration has made it viable for real-time applications.
Industry analysts project that by 2026, over 70% of AAA games will utilize some form of AI-accelerated rendering. The technology is also expanding into virtual and augmented reality, architectural visualization, and film production, where real-time feedback dramatically improves creative workflows.
Since specialized AI accelerators are becoming standard in graphics cards, we can expect even more sophisticated rendering techniques to emerge.
