Saber Interactive Pledges No AI Replacement of Staff, Defends AI Use in Rideshare Stimulator

Saber Interactive's chief creative officer Tim Willits has said the company will never fire someone and replace them with AI, responding to criticism that erupted after a public clash between the studio's CEO and a former writer.

The dispute began when Saber CEO Matthew Karch was asked about Stella Sacco, a former writer on Rideshare Stimulator. Karch replied, "Stella who? I had to ask Claude because I have never spoken to her or seen her" — a reference to Anthropic's AI assistant. The remark drew sharp criticism online. Sacco later said Karch reached out to apologise unreservedly, and that he regretted escalating and how people were reacting (GameSpot).

Following the fallout, Saber added an AI disclosure to Rideshare Stimulator's Steam page in mid-August 2026, stating that "AI can and should help shape gamer experiences" (PC Gamer).

Willits has now drawn a clear line between how Saber uses AI and what it will not do with it. The studio's main campaign in Rideshare Stimulator — a game about driving passengers — features dialogue written entirely by humans. But the game also has a "free ride" mode that uses generative AI, the technology that creates text, images, or audio in response to prompts. Saber said this is a practical choice: the number of passengers in that mode is effectively infinite, so human writers cannot cover every possible interaction. The studio plans weekly or biweekly updates of AI-generated content for that mode.

Saber also said its writing staff has tripled since 2023, and that none of its 3,000-plus employees need to worry about being replaced by AI. A spokesperson told PC Gamer that neither Saber nor Rideshare developer Unigine replaced any writers with AI on that game or any other.

Willits added that Saber's other upcoming titles — including new Hellraiser, Turok, Stuntman, and Space Marine games — do not use AI. He said Saber has used AI tools to improve gameplay and NPC (non-player character) behaviour since the company was founded in 2001, but framed this as a development tool rather than a substitute for human staff.

The games industry has been grappling with AI's role in game development, with studios facing questions from players and workers about whether the technology supplements creative teams or replaces them. Saber's stance — AI for certain systems, humans for story — is an attempt to draw that distinction explicitly.

For Rideshare Stimulator players, the split means a hand-written story campaign alongside an experimental mode that changes with the news cycle. For Saber's workforce, it is a verbal commitment — not yet a binding policy — that their jobs will not be automated away.