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Saber Confirms Hidden Dig at Randy Pitchford in Rideshare 'Stimulator' Trailer

Saber's admission that generative AI will power an "infinite" passenger mode creates disclosure and labor questions.

Overview

  • This week Saber CEO Matt Karch acknowledged that a brief Texas license plate reading "USB DRV" in the Rideshare 'Stimulator' trailer was an intentional reference to Randy Pitchford and his 2018 USB-drive episode.
  • Saber has publicly confirmed it will use generative AI to generate dialogue and voices for an experimental free-ride mode that can produce effectively infinite passenger lines.
  • Former Saber lead writer Stella Sacco says she was removed from the project and replaced by ChatGPT, a claim Saber denies while standing by its statement that the game's story was written by human writers.
  • Reporters found the game's Steam store page currently lacks the generative-AI disclosure Valve requires for player-facing AI content, raising potential policy and public-relations problems for Saber.
  • The dispute ties into a longer Embracer-era background between Saber and Gearbox and raises wider questions about how studios will balance AI tools, writer jobs, and transparency as games scale up procedurally generated content.