Canva launches its own design model, adds new AI features to the platform

Creative suite company Canva launched its own design model on Thursday that understands different layers and formats today to power its features. The company also introduced new product forms, updates to its AI assistant, and the ability to create with its coding tool for sheets to make widgets for getting repeatable insights.

Canva said that it is launching its own foundational model, trained on its elements, that would generate designs with editable layers and objects as compared to a flat image. It said the model works across different formats, including social media posts, presentations, whiteboards, and websites.

“We started by creating flat images with diffusion models. Omni models have taken that a step further, where you’re able to edit those flat images with a lot of sophistication through prompting. But the tools have made you prompt your way to the final result, which, for a visual medium, is challenging,” Canva’s global head of product, Robert Kawalsky, told TechCrunch over a call.

“What we’ve found is that where people want to be is the ability to really marry this idea of starting with a prompt and getting far, but also being able to iterate directly themselves.”

Infusing more AI features into Canva

The company unveiled an AI assistant called Canva AI with a chat-like interface for generating new media items using prompts earlier this year. The platform is now making that assistant available across screens, including the design and elements tabs.

Users can also mention the bot in comments to get text or media suggestions while working on a project with others. Plus, the AI tool can now generate 3D objects and allow you to copy the art style of a design.

Earlier this year, the company added a spreadsheet product and a feature that lets users create mini apps through prompts. Now, it’s connecting these two products, allowing users to make use of data stored in the spreadsheet and create widgets from that.

Canva also acquired an ad analytics company called MagicBrief earlier this year. Using its own platform for creation along with the new measurement tool, Canva is launching a full-stack marketing platform called Canva Grow, which uses AI for both asset creation and analytics. It also allows marketers to publish their ads directly on platforms like Meta.

New products and features

Along with AI features, the Australian design company announced some new products and features to its platform. Users can now create forms with Canva to get different kinds of input from their clients or people instead of using Google Forms.

The company is also adding email design to the platform for users to create templates and layouts for marketing or package tracking emails that follow the brand’s aesthetics.

Canva acquired the pro design tool Affinity last year to better compete with Adobe. With this release, the company said that it is making the tool free forever for users.

Canva is also redesigning the Affinity interface to merge vector, pixel, and layout understanding under one interface. And it’s tightly integrating Affinity to Canva so designers can create objects in the pro tool and move them to the latter. Users can also take advantage of Canva AI to generate images or designs within Affinity, the company said.