Canva has launched a major update to its design platform, calling it Canva AI 2.0. The Australian company, valued at $42 billion, describes the shift as moving from “a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design tools.” The update is the company’s largest product release to date.
The core change is how users start a project. Instead of selecting a template, users can now describe what they want in plain language. A user can ask for a 12-page travel planning deck, and an AI agent builds it. The output is a standard Canva file that can be edited manually afterward. CEO Melanie Perkins has called this kind of iterative, editable AI output the key difference from simple one-shot generation tools.
The new system can connect to external sources such as Slack, Gmail, and Google Calendar to pull in context when building documents or presentations. Canva says this positions it as a central platform for workplace productivity, not just design. The company reports 265 million monthly users and $4 billion in annualized revenue, with enterprise contracts generating $500 million of that. Enterprise revenue grew 100 percent in the past year, reaching 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies.
Canva has built its own AI research team of 100 people and developed its own foundational model specifically for design. The company also works with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, selecting models based on the task. One internal tool, Magic Layers, allows users to split a generated image into editable layers. According to Canva, it was used eight million times in its first four weeks.
The AI tools operate on a credit system. Free users receive a limited allowance, paid subscribers get more, and enterprise clients receive the most access. Canva is offering a free AI pass worth $100 per month to the first one million users of the new system.
The launch comes as software companies broadly face investor concern that AI tools from providers like Anthropic could replace their products. Canva’s co-founder and COO Cliff Obrecht said the company expects to go public, stating he would be surprised if it did not IPO by the end of next year. The company holds over $1 billion in cash and has been cash-flow positive since 2018.
Canva also faces competition from startups and large platforms. Google has launched design tools, and Meta has stated its goal of letting advertisers describe an objective and have AI handle all creative and targeting automatically.
Perkins acknowledged the mixed public sentiment around AI. She said Canva AI is a separate tab in the editor, meaning users who prefer templates or manual editing are not forced to use the AI tools.
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