Saber Interactive's upcoming driving game Rideshare "Stimulator," developed with Unigine, became the subject of controversy after former lead writer Stella Sacco said on Bluesky that she had been replaced by ChatGPT midway through development. Sacco wrote that she was lead writer on the project and that "all the passenger voices were AI too," adding that Saber had either changed direction since her departure or was not disclosing AI use on Steam. She also resurfaced a December 2023 social media post in which she said she had been replaced on one of her games by ChatGPT. According to her LinkedIn profile, Sacco was lead writer at Saber Interactive from July 2023 to July 2024, working on Stuntman Hollywood and other titles in Saber's portfolio.
In a follow-up post, Sacco said the decision to replace her was made by "one to two AI dummy higher-ups at Saber," claiming her direct boss had argued against the move, citing her experience and skill, but that a company executive insisted AI would make for "great marketing" because "gamers love new tech." Sacco said she has no issue with Unigine, the game's developer, and clarified that the replacement decision came from Saber.
Saber Interactive denied Sacco's claim in a statement to PC Gamer, saying, "Neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI for Rideshare or any other game," and that "Rideshare's story was written entirely by real people." The company said its writing staff has tripled since 2023 and that none of its more than 3,000 employees need worry about being replaced by AI. However, Saber acknowledged that the game's experimental free-ride mode will use AI, stating this is necessary because the number of passengers in that mode is infinite, and said it has used AI tools to enhance gameplay and NPC behavior since the studio's founding in 2001.
Sacco responded to Saber's denial, maintaining that she was taken off the project so that ChatGPT could be used to write the remaining text, including planned live updates, and that she had documented this at the time on Facebook and referenced it previously on Bluesky without naming the game. She said that if Saber's plans changed since then, that was fine, but reiterated that it had been her job to write the game until CEO Matt Karch decided using ChatGPT would serve as good publicity.
GamesRadar+ noted that Rideshare "Stimulator" was announced via a trailer released July 30, and that its Steam page describes passengers with stories that are "captivating, hilarious, or just plain weird," but contains no AI use disclosure. Valve's Steamworks policies require developers to disclose generative AI use for content that ships with a game and is consumed by players, including narrative content. The controversy has drawn negative comments on the game's YouTube trailer, including on the PS5 version, with viewers referencing the AI allegations and the absence of a Steam disclosure. PC Gamer noted that Saber's statement specifying that "the story" was written by humans does not necessarily address other narrative elements such as dialogue, and said it had asked Saber about the lack of an AI disclosure but had not yet received a reply.