Doing my own post-mortem of a recent project (the first that I've leaned on "AI" tools to any extent), my feeling was the following:
1. It did not make me faster. I don't know that I expected it to.
2. It's very possible that it made me slower.
3. The quality of my work was better.
Slower and better are related here, because I used these tools more to either check ideas that I had for soundness, or to get some fresh ideas if I didn't have a good one. In many cases the workflow would be: "I don't like that idea, what else do you have for me?"
There were also instances of being led by my tools into a rabbit hole that I eventually just abandoned, so that also contributes to the slowness. This might happen in instances where I'm using "AI" to help cover areas that I'm less of an expert in (and these were great learning experiences). In my areas of expertise, it was much more likely that I would refine my ideas, or the "AI" tool's ideas into something that I was ultimately very pleased with, hence the improved quality.
Now, some people might think that speed is the only metric that matters, and certainly it's harder to quantify quality - but it definitely felt worth it to me.
I do this a lot and absolutely think it might even improve it, and this is why I like the current crop of AIs that are more likely to be argumentative and not just capitulate.
I will ask the AI for an idea and then start blowing holes in its idea, or will ask it to do the same for my idea.
And I might end up not going with it’s idea regardless but it got me thinking about things I wouldn’t have thought about.
Effectively its like chatting to a coworker that has a reasonable idea about the domain and can bounce ideas around.
I'm on record saying it's "like the smartest coworker I've ever had" (no offense).