Canva Unveils Its Own AI Design Model and Expands Creative Suite with Smart Tools
Canva has stepped into the next generation of design innovation with the launch of its own AI-powered design model. The creative suite company unveiled the new model on Thursday, describing it as a system that truly understands design layers and editable formats. This advancement allows Canva to generate customizable designs across multiple formats — from social media posts and presentations to websites and whiteboards — rather than static, flat images.
According to Robert Kawalsky, Canva’s global head of product, the new model represents a major leap forward in user control and creative flexibility. “We started by creating flat images with diffusion models,” Kawalsky explained. “Now users can start with a prompt, get far, and still iterate directly on their own.” This marks a move away from complex prompt-only systems toward a more interactive design process that blends AI efficiency with human creativity.
The company also rolled out several powerful updates to its Canva AI assistant, now available across the platform. Users can tag the AI (@mention) in comments to generate ideas or media while collaborating in real-time. The upgraded tool can also generate 3D objects and mimic the art style of any existing design. Alongside this, Canva has integrated its spreadsheet tool with its app builder, allowing users to transform data into visual widgets — opening up new possibilities for dashboards and analytics-driven design.
In a major expansion of its marketing capabilities, Canva introduced a new platform called Canva Grow. Built on its earlier acquisition of ad analytics firm MagicBrief, Canva Grow combines creative asset generation and performance tracking in one workspace. It enables marketers to design, measure, and publish ads directly on platforms like Meta, making Canva a more complete tool for campaign management and growth marketing.
To strengthen its position against competitors like Adobe, Canva also announced that Affinity — the professional design suite it acquired last year — will now be free forever. The Affinity interface is being redesigned to merge vector, pixel, and layout tools, and tightly integrated with Canva’s ecosystem. Users will be able to seamlessly move designs between the two platforms and leverage Canva AI inside Affinity. With new form and email design tools also added, Canva’s latest update reinforces its mission to become the all-in-one creative platform for individuals, teams, and businesses worldwide.
source: Techcrunch