Tim Willits, who serves as the chief creative officer at Saber Interactive, weighed in on the controversy sparked by CEO Matthew Karch’s response to allegations that a company writer had been substituted with ChatGPT. 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 "replaced me with ChatGPT midway through development." In reaction, Karch issued a sharply worded reply that dismissed Sacco’s claim, 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 fired back with a terse statement of her own, insisting that her original remarks were accurate and labeling Karch’s retort as "remarkably pathetic for the CEO of any company to be making." The public spat quickly attracted attention from industry outlets, and GamesIndustry.biz seized the opportunity to ask Willits for his perspective during the Gamescom conference. Willits brushed off the tension as nothing more than "Matt’s sarcasm, that’s all," before moving on to the core issue.
He emphasized that Saber Interactive has never actually replaced a human employee with artificial intelligence. "That idea is absurd," he said. "We don’t use generative AI for the narrative work in Space Marine, Hellraiser, Stuntman, or any of our other projects." Nevertheless, Willits admitted that the studio is actively experimenting with AI technologies to understand where they might add value in the future. He explained that the company is testing an "AI mode" for the yet‑unreleased Rideshare Simulator, but stressed that the primary campaign, its characters, and the dialogue were all crafted by human writers.
"Even the side missions were written by people," he noted. The Steam store page for the game corroborates this, stating that the main story, characters, and dialogue are authored by a team of human writers, while AI tools are employed only for voice generation, certain localization tasks, and optional passenger‑mission content in the Free Ride mode. The in‑game radio stations, too, feature a blend of human‑produced and AI‑generated music.
Willits clarified that Saber does not currently rely on generative AI for core production pipelines such as code development, environment creation, or texture generation. He framed the studio’s exploratory approach as part of a broader industry trend: "When new technologies first appear, people ask, ‘What are we going to do with this? How will it work?’ Over time we discover where they fit into everyday practice." He expressed optimism that a breakthrough use case could emerge, one that would make the benefits of modern AI unmistakable to both developers and players.
Looking ahead, Willits hinted that the next Gamescom could showcase larger titles that more directly integrate AI features. "I think we’ll see some bigger games that actually focus on it," he predicted, adding that Saber’s own Rideshare Simulator will serve as a valuable testbed for gauging player reaction and refining the technology’s implementation.
He described the experiment as "great" and said he is eager to see how the AI‑generated passenger missions and localized dialogue are received. In summary, while Saber Interactive is probing the possibilities of generative AI, the company maintains that all narrative content for its current slate, including the upcoming Rideshare Simulator, remains the work of human writers. The studio’s leadership, represented by Willits, stresses a cautious, exploratory stance, acknowledging that AI may eventually play a more prominent role once a compelling, industry‑wide use case is identified.
The full interview with Tim Willits can be found on GamesIndustry.biz.