I played Countdown and lasted 2:20. I didn't think it was a particularly great game. It was fine. It didn't really have progression or feel satisfying to play. Pac-Man has the ghosts get faster every level. The treat in Countdown does not seem to escalate. There are more things to avoid but it does not get meaningfully harder. It is just avoiding the things. In Pac-Man you have to make micro as well as macro choices. You have a lot of control so when the ghost kill you it feels like your fault and as someone who has played a lot of Pac-Man it is my fault when I lose. Your game did have me avoiding things and collecting things, but not collecting things will make me lose so it is not a choice of what to collect and when. I just had to collect everything as quickly as possible. It is an interesting idea, but interesting ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is all that really matters.
When I read your above statement you said two things that interested me. "I understand why some people see it as a threat, and I don’t want to brush those concerns aside." You are brushing those concerns aside. But that is not what I found interesting. I don't see AI as a threat. I am a writer. I don't see Shakespeare as a threat. You could read Shakespeare but he is not my competition. If you want to read something I wrote I am the only person you can get it from and AI isn't going to change that. Maybe some people don't like AI because they see it as a threat, to those people I say you never had what it took to begin with.
"I simply don’t have the time or energy to learn every skill needed to accomplish everything AI helps me do." Cool. That is actually the problem. Did you see my review of your game. Writing that required research. I have been watching GMTK, Design Doc, No Pun Included etc. for years. Those skills you don't have time to learn are the fundamentals. I know how this is going to sound but the journey is more important than the destination. You are not making the next great game. Neither am I. That is just not realistic. I am not joining the MLB either. If you only care about having the end product maybe this in not the hobby for you. I am not telling you how to live your life. Do what you want. I just want you to know people are not threatened by AI. The objections people have to AI are much deeper than that.
Hope this was helpful. Have fun :)