Canva is getting AI image generation, interactive coding, spreadsheets and more

Summary

Although there has been significant pushback from artists regarding the proliferation of AI design tools and the content used to train generative models, the companies making the software for creative work are nevertheless building AI into their toolkits. It’s a signal of just how quickly AI has gained importance — regardless of what their customers say, graphics design software makers clearly seem to think they cannot survive without implementing some form of AI. The latest to double down on that strategy is Canva. The company on Thursday said it is adding a suite of new AI features to its platform, including an AI assistant, the ability to create apps with prompts, support for spreadsheets, and AI-powered editing tools. Baking in AI Called Canva AI, the company’s AI assistant can perform a host of tasks, from creating images according to your instructions, or coming up with design ideas — say, collateral for social media or mock-ups for printing. It can even write copy and create documents. And by tapping into a new tool dubbed Canva Code, the assistant can also be prompted to create mini-apps, like interactive maps or custom calculators, that can then be integrated in designs. Canva has partnered with Anthropic for this feature, the Australian design company’s co-founder and chief product officer Cameron Adams told TechCrunch. Image Credits: Canva AI “Over the years, we have encouraged our teams to make interactive prototypes because static mockups don’t truly represent the experience we are trying to create with Canva for users. We started seeing teams inside Canva use AI a lot for prototyping. We thought of externalizing it and giving everyone the ability to code easily and create interactive experiences,” Adams said. To be clear, Canva is not the first to do this. Several startups such as Cursor, Blot.new, Lovable and Replit have attracted lots of customers and attention for enabling users to prompt their way to creating applications. Still, Canva has an incen...