Back in May, we reported on how Intel was using AI to add hyper-realistic visuals to GTA V. Now the company is talking about how it could be used in future. 

That future could include using artificial intelligence to add a new level of detail to future games. This could come in the form of post-processing or directly baking it into the game and even changing how visual assets are created.  

GTA V has been modded a few times over the years since it launched, but even the best mods don't make it look as realistic as the work Intel has done with machine learning.  

Through a machine learning project that's being carried out by a team at Intel Labs, the game has been visually overhauled in truly impressive ways.

This project, known as "Enhancing Photorealism Enhancement" has taken scenes from Grand Theft Auto and transformed the visuals to make them more realistic and the results are staggering. 

As you'll see from the clips and images, the work by Stephan R. Richter, Hassan Abu Alhaija and Vladlen Kolten has overhauled the visuals with more realistic washed-out lighting, convincing real-world styled reflections and much more besides. 

In order to create this look, the researchers used Cityscapes Datasets to train a neural network and teach it real-world views as seen from car-mounted cameras. This training was then combined with the logic from the game's engine which sends information on the depths of things being seen by the user and the lighting situation to result in a convincing view. 

Intel has made GTA V look incredibly realistic with machine learning photo 7
Intel

Currently, it's not ready for mass use as the intelligence isn't applied in real-time speed at the moment. Project co-author Stephan Richter explained that "...it takes half a second to render one frame...but the code is not optimized, so I could imagine it much faster."

Racing and driving games are potentially perfect for use of this technique and the intelligence behind it as it's easy to get footage that corresponds between what's in-game and what's in the real world. But the researchers say it's not limited to that and the possibilities are endless. 

The team think that it could be a couple of years before we see this technique used in real-time in games, but the future is certainly exciting. 

You can find out a lot more about how this works in the detailed paper. Though we might not ever see this rollout as an official mod for GTA V, it's certainly impressive to see the results of this machine learning and the potential impact this could have on AI upscaling of games in future.