Artificial intelligence (AI) presents transformative opportunities as a collaborative partner in online curriculum development. Addressing the persistent challenges of student engagement and connection in distance education, we explore how instructional designers can leverage AI tools to enhance four critical areas of course development: creating authentic case studies that bridge theory with practice, ensuring comprehensive course alignment, crafting engaging discussion prompts, and developing multi-level formative and summative assessments. Examples from various disciplines demonstrate methods to diversify learning activities and streamline the course development process while at the same time maintaining academic integrity. We emphasize a balanced approach that combines AI efficiency with human expertise, highlighting the roles of subject matter experts and instructional designers in maintaining educational quality. The challenges of AI integration, including concerns about loss of human agency, algorithmic bias, and linguistic features of output, are addressed. This work contributes to the ongoing discourse on the opportunities AI offers instructional designers to enhance workflow efficiency while improving learner outcomes.