Saber CEO Apologizes to Stella Sacco After Public Attacks, While Rideshare Adds AI Use on Steam
Matt Karch sent a private apology to the former lead writer, which she accepted. However, Saber continues to deny that Sacco was replaced by ChatGPT, while the Steam page now confirms the use of generative AI in the game.
Saber Interactive CEO Matt Karch has privately apologized to Stella Sacco, the former lead writer who recently accused the company of replacing her with ChatGPT during the development of Rideshare “Stimulator”. Sacco confirmed that she received a lengthy email from the executive and accepted his apology. Meanwhile, Saber has updated the game's Steam page, adding the disclosure about the use of generative artificial intelligence that was initially missing.
The incident began on August 11, when Sacco wrote on Bluesky that she had been the project's lead writer and that Saber had “replaced her with ChatGPT halfway through development,” also claiming that passenger voices were AI-generated. She did, however, leave open the possibility that the project had changed in the years following her departure from the team.
Saber has always disputed that account. The company stated that neither it nor developer Unigine had replaced writers with AI systems and that the main story of Rideshare “Stimulator” was written entirely by humans. However, the controversy escalated when Karch, responding to This Week in Videogames, directly attacked Sacco: in addition to stating that he did not know her, he said she had been replaced by “someone more talented” and that, in hindsight, he would have been happy to replace her with AI.
A few days later, the tone changed. Sacco reported receiving an email in which Karch “unreservedly apologized for the terrible way he spoke about me in the press.” The former writer did not publish the full message but explained that the CEO acknowledged contributing to the escalation of the situation and expressed a desire to make amends. Sacco accepted the apology, while clarifying that their respective positions on artificial intelligence remain opposed.
However, there is an important distinction: Karch's apology does not equate to a confirmation of Sacco's version of her replacement by ChatGPT. On this point, the two accounts remain incompatible. What is now verifiable, however, is the use of AI within the game.
The new Steam disclosure specifies that the main campaign, characters, and dialogues are written by human authors, while AI tools are used for voice generation and part of the localization. The optional Free Ride mode also includes AI-generated passenger missions and localized dialogues. Some radio stations also contain artificially generated music, which Saber states will be clearly identified within the game.