What does AI speed up in game development?

I use AI tools every day. In recent years some parts of the work have become much faster, while others have barely changed. This post tries to separate the two.

What really got faster

Prototype code. Code written to try out a core mechanic, which will most likely be thrown away later. Speed is everything here, and this is where AI makes the biggest difference.

Repeating systems. Parts that look similar in every project: save systems, settings menus, simple UI flows.

Editor tools. Small Unity tools that make life easier for designers and artists. Tools that used to be "we'll do it if there's time" can now be written very quickly.

A second pair of eyes for debugging. Sharing an error message and the related code and asking for possible causes often gets me to the right place faster.

Text work. Store description drafts, translations, in-game text, the first draft of a design document.

Ad ideas. Coming up with ten different openings for an ad video and picking the best ones.

What didn't get faster, or needs care

Game feel. How high a jump should be, how satisfying a hit should feel. These are only found by playing, through dozens of small tweaks.

Architecture decisions. Thinking about how a system will grow in six months takes experience. A solution that works today can lock up the project tomorrow.

Mobile performance. Finding out why the frame rate drops on a low-end phone still takes measuring and profiling.

Rights and licences. The commercial terms for generated images, audio and text have to be checked separately for every tool.

My own rules

1. I don't add code I don't understand to a project.
2. I move in small steps: piece by piece instead of generating a big system in one go.
3. I make the decisions; the tool only speeds things up.

AI is a very powerful tool in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing. For someone who doesn't know what's right, it's a way to do the wrong thing faster.