Tim Willits, who serves as the chief creative officer at Saber Interactive, recently weighed in on the controversy sparked by CEO Matthew Karch’s response to allegations that a company writer had been supplanted by an artificial‑intelligence tool. The dispute began in August when Stella Sacco, identified as the lead writer for Saber’s forthcoming title Rideshare Simulator, publicly claimed that the studio had "replaced me with ChatGPT midway through development." In reaction, Karch issued a sharply worded reply that dismissed Sacco’s involvement and suggested she had been let go for unrelated reasons. He wrote, "Stella who? I had to ask Claude because I have never spoken to her or seen her… As far as Stella is concerned, she was replaced by someone more talented and terminated for a variety of reasons a few months later." Sacco quickly countered Karch’s statement, insisting that her original claim was accurate and describing the CEO’s remarks as "remarkably pathetic for the CEO of any company to be making." The back‑and‑forth quickly attracted media attention, prompting GamesIndustry.biz to seek Willits’ perspective during the Gamescom conference.
Willits’ answer was succinct: "That's just Matt's sarcasm, that's all." He then emphasized the core point that Saber Interactive has never actually substituted a human employee with an AI system. "That's crazy," he said, adding that no generative‑AI tools were used in the creation of titles such as Space Marine, Hellraiser, Stuntman, or any of the studio’s other projects. "We don’t use generative AI in those games," he clarified. Nevertheless, Will Willits acknowledged that the company is actively experimenting with AI technologies.
He explained that Saber is still trying to understand where AI might add genuine value within the industry, what players might find appealing, and how the technology could be integrated without compromising creative integrity. "We are experimenting with it, because we don’t know where in the industry it’s going to be effective, where people will like it, where it’s useful," he said.
He specifically referenced Rideshare Simulator, a game that Saber announced but has not yet released. According to Willits, the studio is testing an "AI mode" for that title, but he stressed that the main narrative elements – the campaign story, characters, and dialogue – were all crafted by human writers.
Even the side missions, he noted, were authored by people rather than machines. The game’s Steam store page provides a nuanced disclosure about AI usage. It states that while the core campaign narrative, character development, and dialogue are the product of a human writing team, AI tools have been employed for voice generation and certain aspects of localization.
Additionally, an optional "Free Ride" mode features AI‑generated passenger missions and localized dialogue, and the in‑game radio stations blend both human‑composed and AI‑produced music tracks. Willits further clarified that Saber does not currently incorporate generative AI into its production pipelines for technical assets such as code, level geometry, or texture creation. "We don’t use generative AI in our production pipelines in terms of things like code, environments, or textures," he said.
Looking ahead, Willits expressed optimism that a breakthrough use case for AI could eventually emerge – a scenario where the technology is so intuitively integrated that both developers and players instantly recognize its value. He likened the current exploratory phase to the early days of any transformative technology, when society asks, "What are we going to do with this?
How will it work?" Over time, those questions typically give way to widespread adoption as the technology finds its niche. "When they first come out, people are like, ‘What are we going to do with this technology?
How’s it going to work?’ And then we all discover that it’ll fit into everyday life," Willits observed. He predicted that the next Gamescom could showcase larger titles that deliberately center AI features, signaling a shift from experimental prototypes to more polished, commercially viable implementations.
Willits concluded by emphasizing that Saber’s work on the AI mode for Rideshare Simulator is fundamentally an experiment. He is eager to see how the player community reacts, how the AI‑generated content meshes with human‑crafted elements, and what lessons can be drawn for future projects.
"It will be interesting to see where it goes. I bet at next year’s Gamescom we’ll have some bigger games that actually focus on it. I’m curious to see how it plays out for us, how it works in our Rideshare game, how people are going to like it, and how it’s integrated. It’s a great experiment," he said.
The full interview with Willits is slated for publication by GamesIndustry.biz tomorrow, promising further insight into Saber Interactive’s cautious yet forward‑looking approach to artificial‑intelligence tools in game development.