Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
There's been a heck of a debate around the future of coding and design tools lately... but how are today’s top teams actually using AI?
Well, Stephen Haney (founder of the new design tool Paper) spent the last few months talking with teams like Shopify, Notion, etc. to find out.
He turned it into a bit of an AI Design Field Report and there are a lot of interesting nuggets in there.
So in today’s episode he walks us through some of his key findings and how that's shaping his product strategy for Paper.
Some highlights:
- How AI adoption looks at startups vs. big companies
- Which AI tools are the most popular in today’s top teams
- Which Twitter trends you can safely ignore as a designer
- What Stephen thinks about the great Ryo vs. Karri debate
- The localhost sharing problem and how teams are solving it
- Where Stephen thinks the future of design tools is headed next
+ a lot more
SHOW NOTES:
Basecamp’s “Shape Up” project management philosophy (basecamp.com/shapeup)
Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿
🌐 dive.club
🐦 twitter.com/joindiveclub
Now you can join advanced courses taught by the top designers to help you take a huge leap forward in your career 💪
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:02 The new version of "should designers code?"
3:36 Stephen's continuum for building products
11:56 What Stephen has learned researching today's top design teams
15:10 Claude Code/Cursor vs. AI prototyping tools
18:05 An example of designers shipping at startups
19:51 The new Localhost problem
24:26 Is AI prototyping actually faster?
27:30 The network effects of AI
30:53 How Paper's product strategy has evolved
37:53 The changing role of design tools as the source of truth
39:25 Paper's Tailwind partnership
41:54 Stephen's advice to designers
There's been a heck of a debate around the future of coding and design tools lately... but how are today’s top teams actually using AI?
Well, Stephen Haney (founder of the new design tool Paper) spent the last few months talking with teams like Shopify, Notion, etc. to find out.
He turned it into a bit of an AI Design Field Report and there are a lot of interesting nuggets in there.
So in today’s episode he walks us through some of his key findings and how that's shaping his product strategy for Paper.
Some highlights:
- How AI adoption looks at startups vs. big companies
- Which AI tools are the most popular in today’s top teams
- Which Twitter trends you can safely ignore as a designer
- What Stephen thinks about the great Ryo vs. Karri debate
- The localhost sharing problem and how teams are solving it
- Where Stephen thinks the future of design tools is headed next
+ a lot more
SHOW NOTES:
Basecamp’s “Shape Up” project management philosophy (basecamp.com/shapeup)
Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿
🌐 dive.club
🐦 twitter.com/joindiveclub
Now you can join advanced courses taught by the top designers to help you take a huge leap forward in your career 💪
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:02 The new version of "should designers code?"
3:36 Stephen's continuum for building products
11:56 What Stephen has learned researching today's top design teams
15:10 Claude Code/Cursor vs. AI prototyping tools
18:05 An example of designers shipping at startups
19:51 The new Localhost problem
24:26 Is AI prototyping actually faster?
27:30 The network effects of AI
30:53 How Paper's product strategy has evolved
37:53 The changing role of design tools as the source of truth
39:25 Paper's Tailwind partnership
41:54 Stephen's advice to designers
