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recently weighed in on the controversy sparked by CEO Matthew Karch’s response to allegations that a company writer had been replaced by an artificial‑intelligence system. The dispute began in August when Stella Sacco, identified as the lead writer for Saber’s forthcoming title Rideshare Simulator, publicly asserted that the studio had dismissed her and substituted her role with ChatGPT partway through development.
In retaliation, Karch issued a sharply worded rebuttal, stating, "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 promptly replied, defending her original claim and calling Karch’s remarks "remarkably pathetic for the CEO of any company to be making." When GamesIndustry.biz approached Willits at Gamescom for comment, he framed the exchange as nothing more than Karch’s characteristic sarcasm.
"That's just Matt's sarcasm, that's all," Willits said, before moving on to the core issue: the use of artificial‑intelligence tools in Saber’s development workflow. He emphasized that, contrary to the accusations, the studio has never actually replaced a human employee with AI.
"That's crazy," he laughed, adding that none of the narrative content for titles such as Space Marine, Hellraiser, or Stuntman was generated by machines. "We don’t use generative AI in those games," he affirmed. Willits did, however, acknowledge that Saber is actively experimenting with AI technologies to understand where they might add value in the industry.
He explained that the company is still exploring the boundaries of what AI can accomplish, noting, "We don’t know where in the industry it’s going to be effective, where people will like it, where it’s useful." The only concrete example he cited is the upcoming Rideshare Simulator, which includes an "AI mode" that the team is testing. He was quick to stress that the main storyline, characters, and dialogue for the game were all crafted by human writers, and even the side‑mission narratives were human‑written.
The AI tools currently in use are limited to voice generation, certain localization tasks, and the optional Free Ride mode, which offers AI‑generated passenger missions and localized dialogue. The game's radio stations also blend human‑produced tracks with AI‑generated music.
The Steam store page for Rideshare Simulator makes these distinctions explicit. It states that the core campaign’s story, characters, and dialogue are the product of a human writing team, while AI assists only in voice synthesis and some aspects of localization. The optional Free Ride mode, meanwhile, leverages AI to create passenger missions and localized dialogue, and the in‑game radio features a mix of human and AI‑generated music. Willits clarified that Saber does not employ generative AI for core production pipelines such as coding, level design, or texture creation.
Looking ahead, Willits expressed optimism that a breakthrough use case for AI could emerge, one that would be so intuitive and compelling that the industry would instantly recognize its potential. He likened the current exploratory phase to the early days of any transformative technology: "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." He predicted that by next year’s Gamescom, larger titles might begin to showcase more pronounced AI integration, and he is eager to see how Saber’s own experiments with AI in Rideshare Simulator will be received by players.
Willits concluded by describing the AI work as "a great experiment" and hinted that the full interview with GamesIndustry.biz would be published the following day, offering further insight into Saber’s stance on artificial‑intelligence tools and the broader conversation about their role in game development.