Hello
I have found a bit more info on this.
Problem with AO component of SSGI in 4.24 appears to be that the bounce light from skylight removes AO as if the surface is lit by a directional light.
To confirm this I have enabled SSGI and set GI intensity to 0 in post processing volume. AO shows up.
Setting GI intensity back to 1 removes all AO. I have attached the images below.
Ideally skylight’s light bounce should not reduce AO intensity by any amount (as in 4.23).
Following images are both from 4.24.1
After all, I’m not sure if AO component of SSGI is the new GTAO. But is the most accurate AO solution I’ve ever seen.
Edit: Edit: Just a correction. Skylight’s light bounce should reduce AO intensity in case GI intensity is manually increased. But on default GI intensity of 1 it shouldn’t completely take out all AO.