Saber Interactive CEO Matt Karch just torched whatever goodwill the company had left with a statement so petty it reads like a personal vendetta dressed up as corporate policy. Former lead writer Stella Sacco accused the publisher of swapping her out for ChatGPT midway through Rideshare “Stimulator” development and failing to disclose generative AI on the Steam page. Saber denied replacing writers but admitted using AI for an experimental free-ride mode with “infinite” passengers, then Karch escalated by claiming he’d never even met Sacco, had to ask Claude who she was, and would have happily replaced her with AI “programmed to be honest.”

Sacco, who worked on the project until 2024 after stints including Stuntman Hollywood, fired back that Karch’s screed was “remarkably pathetic” and would do more damage to Saber’s reputation than hers, insisting the AI push came from the top despite internal pushback about player backlash. The Steam listing still lacks the required disclosure under Valve’s policy, leaving wishlisters in the dark while the game’s discussion section fills with arguments over hidden genAI use.

Karch also asserted the main story was written entirely by humans, Saber’s writing staff has tripled since 2023, and no employees are being replaced, but the “in retrospect” admission lands as a blunt admission of priorities: cheaper tech over the person who built the satire. Community threads on Reddit and X are calling the response messy and tone-deaf, with many seeing it as confirmation that the whistleblower exposed exactly what the company wanted buried until launch.

The fallout positions Rideshare as the cautionary case study for undisclosed AI in narrative games, where a CEO’s public meltdown does more to highlight the transparency failure than any marketing plan ever could.