Saber admit they use AI while denying they swapped lead writer for ChatGPT

The developer behind Rideshare ‘Stimulator’ has been accused of replacing a lead writer with ChatGPT, as the threat of AI continues. 

The use of generative AI in game development has been a sensitive issue for some time, but it hasn’t stopped developers from adopting the tool anyway. 

Games like Call Of Duty have proudly used generative AI artwork, while others like Crimson Desert and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 have used it to make temporary assets – which have had to be patched out after being ‘accidentally’ left in the final release.

The concern is that generative AI could be used to replace actual artists, and according to one developer, that happened on an upcoming new title from Saber Interactive. 

Last week, Saber Interactive revealed a driving sim game called Rideshare ‘Stimulator’, where you play as a taxi driver who is trying to build up his business by driving smoothly and engaging in ‘stimulating’ conversations. 

The trailer has an off-kilter tone to emphasise the odd passengers you’ll encounter, with the dialogue clearly playing a key role in its appeal. 

In a post on Bluesky following Rideshare ‘Stimulator’s reveal, narrative designer Stella Sacco claimed she worked as a lead writer on the game, but was replaced by ChatGPT. 

‘I didn’t even see this had been announced,’ she wrote. ‘I was lead writer on this one! And Saber replaced me with ChatGPT midway through development. All the passenger voices were AI too. 

‘Either they changed direction at some point or they’re not disclosing it on Steam.’

Sacco also shared an old social media post from December 2023, where she had written, ‘I got replaced on one of my games at work. By ChatGPT.’

According to Sacco’s LinkedIn profile, she was employed at Saber Interactive as a lead writer from July 2023 to July 2024, where she worked on Stuntman Hollywood and ‘other games’. 

Rideshare ‘Stimulator’ is developed by Unigine and published by Saber Interactive, and in a follow-up post, Sacco said the decision to replace her was made by ‘one to two AI dummy higher-ups at Saber’, clarifying that she had no issue with developer Unigine.

Additionally, she claimed Saber wanted to use AI because ‘gamers love new tech’ so using the tool would be ‘great marketing’. Which is so out of touch it would make an Xbox exec blanch.

In a statement to PC Gamer, Saber Interactive denied the allegations, but confirmed the game does use generative AI in other areas. At the time of writing, there is no AI disclosure on the game’s Steam page. 

‘Neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI for Rideshare or any other game,’ Saber Interactive said. ‘In fact, Saber’s staff of writers has tripled since 2023. Rideshare’s story was written entirely by real people. 

‘The game will also feature an experimental, free-ride mode that by necessity incorporates AI as the number of passengers in the game is infinite. We are firm believers in using AI tools to improve or enhance gameplay experiences and improve NPC behaviour as we have done since Saber was founded in 2001. As the industry has continued to contract, Saber continues to hire. None of our 3000+ employees have to worry about being replaced by AI.’

It’s a bizarre rebuttal because it denies replacing writers with AI, but subsequently confirms it has used the tool to create infinite amounts of passengers – which implies it’s being used to come up with text, voices, or both, to sustain the free ride mode. 

Sacco has since branded Saber’s statement as ‘nonsense’, claiming that the publisher took her ‘off the project to use ChatGPT to write the rest of the text’ and ‘planned live updates’. 

She added: ‘If they changed plans in the intervening years, that’s great, but again: I was there, and it was my job to write the game, and then it wasn’t once [Saber CEO] Matt Karch decided using ChatGPT would be great publicity for the game.’

Beyond the AI of it all, Rideshare ‘Stimulator’ has attracted attention over an intentional dig at Gearbox president Randy Pitchford, which references a 2018 incident involving ‘barely legal’ porn on a USB stick.

According to Karch, the digs are included because Pitchford ‘took shots’ at Embracer – the company which previously owned Saber and Gearbox – in last year’s Borderlands 4. 

In a weird comment defending his former conglomerate overlords – who have laid off thousands of developers over the last few years – Karch told Game File: ‘Without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living.’

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