arXiv:2609.34655v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Designers are adopting AI faster than the tools built for them can keep up. General-purpose conversational AI led AI use among designers in three of the four phases of design work, ahead of tools built for design. We surveyed 443 designers from at least 43 countries about AI use in each phase of the Double Diamond: Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver. Tools were classified by output and function. Of these designers, 79.7% confirmed AI use in at least one phase. Adopters used AI in a mean of 2.89 phases, and only 35.1% used it in all four. They added phases in workflow order, from Discover onward. Conversational tools led in Discover, Define and Deliver. AI-native image generation led in Develop, where AI-native tools peaked at 57.6% of tool picks. Embedded AI features in existing design software peaked later, in Deliver (37.5%). Fewer designers used AI in later phases, from 318 in Discover to 182 in Deliver. Those who did named a similar number of tools per phase. Low perceived usefulness was the only barrier that separated non-adopters (40.5%) from adopters (16.4%) after correction for multiple tests. Concern about accuracy was similar in both groups.