Saber Interactive denied on Tuesday that it replaced lead writer Stella Sacco with artificial intelligence on the upcoming driving sim Rideshare "Stimulator". Sacco had claimed on social media that she was removed from the project mid-development and replaced with ChatGPT, with all passenger voices also generated by AI.
In a statement to GamesRadar, Saber said: "Neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI for Rideshare or any other game. In fact, Saber's staff of writers has tripled since 2023. Rideshare's story was written entirely by real people." The studio also noted that its workforce has grown to over 3,000 employees.
The company did confirm, however, that the game includes an experimental free-ride mode that incorporates AI "by necessity, as the number of passengers in the game is infinite". According to Saber, it has used AI tools to improve gameplay experiences and NPC behavior since its founding in 2001.
Rideshare "Stimulator" is a taxi operator sim where players pick up and drop off passengers while hearing their conversations. The game's trailer also gained attention for containing veiled references to Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, including a Texas license plate reading "USB DRV" (an allusion to an incident involving a USB stick Pitchford left at a Medieval Times restaurant containing sensitive documents).
