AMD AI upscaling coming in 2024 as Team Red's FSR tackles DLSS headstart

As the gaming paradigm shifts, we've seen everyone from desktop giants, like Intel and Nvidia to mobile powerhouses, like Qualcomm, and even the mighty Apple focus on AI upscaling technologies in order to rely less on raw horsepower to run games. Basically the only big player in the gaming space that hasn't yet moved to AI-powered graphics upscaling tech is AMD.

In a recent interview on the No Priors podcast on YouTube, AMD's Chief Technology Officer, Mark Papermaster, has hinted that AMD is looking to release its own version of an AI upscaler as part of the next-generation FSR implementation.

Papermaster stated that "We’ve just completed AI enabling our entire portfolio: Cloud, edge, PCs, embedded devices, our gaming devices. We’re enabling our gaming devices to upscale using AI, and 2024 is really a huge deployment year for us. We are enabling gaming devices to upscale using AI and 2024 is a really huge deployment year." indicating that AI applications are coming for more than just gaming PCs.

The specific separation between PCs and gaming applications is interesting, and it may lead a reasonable observer to speculate that AMD might be working on a similar software solution to Nvidia's Studio suite, which uses AI to accelerate applications like filmmaking, video calls, streaming, and other creative and productivity applications.

How exactly AMD's AI acceleration plays out is yet to be seen, but if it's anything like DLSS and FSR, which have been used to great effect on even handhelds, like the Asus ROG Ally (curr. $649 at Best Buy) and Lenovo Legion Go (curr $649.99 from Lenovo), it'll likely be a game-changer for many mobile gamers.

If you're looking for a powerful AMD-powered gaming experience, look no further than the Alienware m18 R1 with Ryzen 9, Radeon RX 7900M from Dell (which we also reviewed here).